The day started with a plan to climb Fan Mountain, but that plan quickly disintegrated. I only had five hours for hiking before I had to be in Bozeman and as I drove to the trailhead I knew there was no way I could summit Fan Mountain and make it back to my truck in five hours. Instead I parked at Moonlight Basin's Madison Lodge and hiked out Madison Loop Trail to Southside Road. At Southside Road I continued uphill to the ski run, Horseshoe Cutoff. It was a little strange to be hiking up ski runs in the summer void of snow. I jumped the same deer with a patchy coat twice on my hike up to the backcountry access gate on Horseshoe Cutoff. At the backcountry gate I left Horseshoe Cutoff and continued up towards Deepwater Bowl and the Forest Service wall. The Deepwater Bowl had a few patches of dirty snow, but was mostly green with blankets of wildflowers. I scaled the gently sloping west side of the Forest Service Wall (the east side is a sheer and crumbly cliff) through a soft grass meadow and wildflowers. At the top of the meadow and the top of the Forest Service Wall I came to a weather station and endless dinner plate sized talus to the summit still a few hundred yards up. I spotted one mountain goat. I scrambled upward and the mountain goat slowly cleared off as if I were annoying him. I climbed up the skier's entrance to the north summit snowfield, which was still covered with snow, and passed the Moonlight Basin ski patrol shack at the top of the mountain.
Ah, the summit. It had a new meaning having walked to the top. I watched as a tram car docked at the mountaintop station. I watched expecting to see a throng of tourists spill out towards the tram attendant. Instead the attendant reached into the car and pulled out what looked to be a sub sandwich...or maybe a burrito? The tram door closed and the car started its descent. I sat down and ate lunch.
On the way down I stumbled across the entire mountain goat herd. There must have been three or four adults and three kids. The were laying on an old patch of snow and scampered off as I approached. I retraced my steps back to my truck and took off for Bozeman.
Fan Mountain next time?
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