Yesterday we decided to take on a hike to the top of 10,200' Windy Mountain before the weather made it impossible for this season. The day was absolutely beautiful with clear skies and a slight breeze.
We were able to drive to a spot at just under 8000', leaving us with a little more than 2000'elevation change each way over a distance of 7 - 8 miles. On the way in to the trailhead I had Ken stop the car so I could snap a photo of the amazing landscape by the river, above.
One of the joys of this hike is the 360 degree vista at the top of Windy. The ever familiar Pilot and Index Peaks could be seen to the northwest once we reached the ridge at around 9000'.
To the right is the Forest Service marker on top of Windy Peak.
One of the idiosyncrasies of this particular mountain is the skeletal remains of a Forest Service lookout that is still in place.
The lookout was built in 1940 and was destroyed by the Forest Service sometime around 1970. Strangely enough, they left in place the outhouse which had the unique feature of being built to hang out over the sheer drop on the side of the mountain. The rocky soil made it impossible to dig any type of hole so apparently the powers that be of the time decided the best disposal of the human refuse was to let it roll down the side of the cliff! Curiosity about the outhouse has been one of the reasons for climbing the mountain for many years. A number of people mentioned its existence when I said we were planning the hike. We were totally amazed therefore to discover the outhouse smashed into pieces when we arrived at the top. It seems the violent winds of last winter finally did in this infamous landmark!
We were expecting to trudge through some snow on our climb and were not disappointed. For about a half mile once we reached the 9000' mark until we hit the windswept ridge, we were post-holing through knee high drifts.
The view to the southeast from the top revealed Heart Mountain with the scar of Chief Joseph Highway in front of it.
Other highlights of the day were the sounds of howling wolves early in the climb, clear wolf and grizzly prints in the snow and a very fresh mountain lion track on the way down, obviously walking over the top of our upward prints!
