Created 28-Jun-16
Modified 20-Dec-23
2016-06-04 | Windy Peak, Saddle Mountain, Mount Hornecker | 2236, 2280, 2243 (TH 1928 | 15.6km | TA 1201 (see notes)
Season opener for Super Saturday and the sun it did shine upon us. By 8:13 we were atop Windy Peak looking across at the twin summits of Saddle. We had a lunch in the saddle of Saddle and watched a group of bachelor bighorn sheep graze and then climb the side of Saddle's north summit like it was nothing at all. We later caught up to the same group grazing on our way back. From the south summit of Saddle we observed a lone elk, a pair of deer, plus sheep so not a bad day for wildlife. One tick was found shortly after passing the sheep in the meadow and after letting him crawl around for a bit and get his hopes up he was crushed into oblivion as a lesson to others. Bwahahaha!
After considering our options we decided to summit Mt Hornecker before decending from it and returning back over Windy Peak. At the creek before the last climb I estimated that we would have a 1200m day but at the truck we were a few metres short so we crossed the road and climbed until the 'cheater box' (GPS) counted past 1200. Except for a sunburn (sunscreen in the truck doesn't do one much good) it was a perfect start to the season.
© Clayton Ditzler