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Goat Mountain (7797) in Waterton

Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 9:11 am
by boudreaux
If you want a remote wilderness like climb, close to home, then this peak is for you. Goat Mountain has been a training peak for me for a few years. I discovered it during my march through Jefferson County in '09 and have been climbing it since then. It's a long ridge climb that gives you an alpine feel even with all the scrub. Up and down the many ridgepoints and the 'Big Step' is really challenging. Roughly a 2500' climb over 4+ miles, usually takes me about 3 hours up and hour and a half down! As you approach the overhead pipes, vere right onto a double track going up hill, soon as you cross a gulch, look for the trail heading up the steep loose slope, enjoy the ride! Don't access the trail by going under the pipes, a patch of poison ivy is blocking your path, unless you want to experience some real misery. Hey, I warned you!

Re: Goat Mountain (7797) in Waterton

Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 9:39 am
by edhaman
Could you give a little trail head location information?

Re: Goat Mountain (7797) in Waterton

Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 9:48 am
by Greenhouseguy
Goat Mountain gave me my worst foothills butt-whipping. I thought that it was a nice hike on the way up - kind of a ridge hike, with good views. SlowMovingFunSeeker wanted to see if we could bushwhack back to the main road to save some mileage, so we bailed directly off of the summit. We bulled our way through an endless sea of dense scrub oak, which is about as pleasant as bushwhacking through willows. When we got out of the oaks, I followed fresh mountain lion tracks down to a creek, hoping to follow the creek down to the South Platte. My plan was working fine until the creek went through a steep canyon and dropped off in an icy 20-foot waterfall. It was too dark to backtrack, and fresh snow on the steep canyon walls would have given us a 35-foot ride into the rocky creek below. We opted to climb out of the canyon to get around the waterfall. A trail below the waterfall took us the last 1/4 mile to the main service road through Waterton. Lesson learned; trails are there for a reason. The scenery around the waterfall was impressive, and would provide some good opportunities for photographers.

Re: Goat Mountain (7797) in Waterton

Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 9:57 am
by KeithK
edhaman wrote:Could you give a little trail head location information?
Waterton Canyon(south of C-470, on Wadsworth) is the trailhead. Walk up the road until you see the pipes overhead, as Beau described.

I, too, found this to be a good little hike on a day when I wanted to be close to home. On a good sunny day, there will be tons of eastern fence lizards to keep you company. I wouldn't be surprised to find snakes around as well, but didn't see any the day I was up there.

Re: Goat Mountain (7797) in Waterton

Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 10:46 am
by boudreaux
Hey Greenhouseguy, I climbed Goat from that gulch known as Cottonwood Creek, it's just as hard going up too. If you want harder crap, try going from Goat to Warren and then back to the east ridge of Goat via the E/SE ridge of Warren. But there's more, go from Goat south to Pt 7558, if that don't kill you, nothing will! :lol: I've climbed at least 6 different routes on the Big Step, it's very interesting mostly 4th class climbing with occasional 5th class. I put a new register up there in March, the previous one dated to 2000. Interesting sidenote about Goat, you ever see that map drawing featuring peaks of the Front Range, well Goat is on this map, smack dab in the middle. The map maker must have been a friend of Goat too!

Re: Goat Mountain (7797) in Waterton

Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 10:49 am
by boudreaux
Oh Yeah, I see lion tracks in there a lot, especially in the winter! I saw the bighorns a month ago, about 30 of them. While you could potentially see a rattlesnake, I have never seen one on any of the many routes I've taken. Lizards, on the other hand are everywhere! Beware of Ticks too!

One more tip, don't wear your best hiking gear, it will get torn up. This is your chance to be a dirt-bag for a day!