The Mountain Goat

The resplendent huckleberry colors seemed destined to be the highlight of our Indian Heaven trip until Leslie spotted this Mountain Goat near the top of Sawtooth Mountain.

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If I hadn’t seen (and photographed) it myself, I wouldn’t have believed that she had actually seen a Mountain Goat here. After all, we climbed to the top of the mountains several times in the past and never seen any sign of Mountain Goats. As far as I know, the nearest goats are nearly 100 miles north of Indian Heaven in the Goat Rock Wilderness.

The Mountain Goat seemed almost as curious about us as we were about it. Though it would have been easy for it to scramble to the other side of the ridge, it seemed content to climb a little higher

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to get a better look at us.

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I have seen Mountain Goats on distant ridges in the Goat Rock Wilderness, but I never imagined I would ever see one this close in the wild.

I have to admit, it was definitely the highlight of our trip for me.

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5 thoughts on “The Mountain Goat”

  1. Love the clean lines of those horns and ears in the backlight. And the way it carries itself with a kind of “Naw, you don’t want to mess with me” expression. Impressive creature!

  2. We definitely weren’t going to join it at the top. Leslie got a little dizzy just looking up.

    Strangely enough, a man died in Olympic National Park last year when he was gored by a Mountain Goat.

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