Sacajawea Peak

Last night after the concert, Casey and I stayed in a hotel in Bozeman so we could do a hike in the area today. We chose Sacajawea Peak, about 25 miles outside the city. The trail began at the end of a seven mile, rough dirt road. The trail began in a forested area and started climbing right away. Within a quarter mile, we left the forest for open terrain for the remainder of the hike.

The road to the trail

The beginning of the trail

From there, we ascended up an open area at the base of two mountains, Sacajawea to the left and Hardscrabble to the right. The trail climbed to the base of the saddle between the mountains and then switchbacked to the top of the saddle. 

Sacajawea Peak and the saddle

Hardscrabble Peak

Snow on the trail to the saddle

The view behind us

The trail to the saddle

Looking down from the saddle

The view on the other side of the saddle

From the saddle we headed to the summit of Sacajawea. At this point, the trail started climbing more steeply, and finally it headed almost straight up to the summit on loose dirt and gravel, which was harder to walk down than it was to walk up.

The steep trail to the summit

At the summit, we found several mountain goats. A mother and her baby were at the very summit, about 15 feet from where we ate our lunch. After eating and watching the goats, we started heading down to the trailhead. The hike down was much faster than the hike up, and we were back at the car in no time. 

Goats on the top

View from the summit

Another shot from the peak

We headed back into Bozeman for pizza at McKenzie River before picking my car up in Livingston and heading back to Mammoth for the night. It was a great trip to Bozeman and we had a wonderful time!