Hiking Elk Horn Trail

Elk Horn Trail part 1….

The Elk Horn Trail starts at the Red Cliff campground. A few days prior to my hike, I had taken my dog for a quick walk. The wild flowers were gorgeous, so I had to go back to take pictures. Get out and hike this trail soon before the flowers die off.

I started the hike with the intention of walking to where the trail connects into other trails on the Eastside of the Gallatin National Forest. You can eventually make a loop out of the trail to Cabin Creek or the Buffalo Horn Trail.

As you start the hike you will pass by Red Cliff cave and some sport rock climbing. If you head up to the cave be careful as it is steep and there is loose footing. In the cave, you can look for crystals but bring tools to dig them out as it is pretty picked over. You might also be able to watch rock climbers working up routes on the Red Cliff face. I took a shot of some wild roses blooming just below the cave. (Photo 1)

Photo of wild roses with the Red Cliff Cave in the background

Back on the main trail, you will head south following the Gallatin River. About half a mile along the trail it will start switch backing, climbing up higher on the bench above the Gallatin River. There are beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and river along the trail (Photo 2- Pink and Yellow Columbine with river and cliff background)  

This is where the wild flowers were most prevalent in variety and quantity. (Photos 3-Orange Paintbrush, Photo 4-Pink and Yellow Columbine, Photo 5-Wild Onion)

       

As I walked along the trail I saw many varieties of wild flowers: Columbine, Harebells, Sticky Geranium, Roses, Paintbrush, Wild Onion, Lupine, Potentilla, Balsamroot, and Mountain Kitten Tails. The trail eventually leaves the Gallatin River, running through a meadow area, then it turns into the canyon that meets up with Elk Horn Creek.

I really wanted to see how long it would take me to connect with the other trails and Fredo, my dog and I hiked on. We tried to stop for a lunch break and got attacked by mosquitos so we canceled lunch! Also if your furry friend is with you, once you leave the river, water is not available for the next two miles until a small creek and then many small creeks to follow. As I continued up the canyon, there were several points on the trail with downed trees to navigate. We worked around them and enjoyed the quiet of the woods. It is quite peaceful in this draw, lots of rocks covered with lichen and moss, some wild flowers where the sun can peak in and evidence of animals.

We trekked on, going up a couple small climbs. The hike is a low grade uphill, and once we got above one of the small climbs, I was surprised how high we had climbed in three miles. We finally got to the first watering hole, a small creek no larger than a foot wide. Fredo, my Golden Doodle, walked around in it and cooled off with a drink of water. We continued on and came upon three large, downed trees across the trail. They were so massive and close together we would have had to bush whack through the dense woods to get around them. We were out about 3.5 miles or an hour and a half of walking. I contemplated if I wanted to struggle around this section, when I got the heebie geebie’s. Now I have been told if that happens get out of there, your natural instincts are kicking in because there is a predator nearby. Well as soon as I turn around I found this next to the trail…

A large pile of Bear Scat! I poked it with that stick lying next to it and it was soft and fresh. So I gave a few hollers, clapped a bunch and headed back out the way we came in. As soon as I started walking back down the trail, I heard some branches crack on the other side of the downed trees, I was so glad we did not continue on. Another thing I noticed while we were hiking was Fredo sniffing the foliage next to the trail a lot, I thought maybe he smelled another dog but it was probably that bear. Sometimes I wish he could talk! Since I hike with just my dog I am really loud as a rule. That day I did my usual wild life alerting-loud signing/shouts and rhythmic claps…it is not scientifically proven but it at least alerts animals to our presence. I usually don’t see a lot of wildlife but that is alight if it keeps the predators away!

Since I did not meet my goal of joining up with the other trails, look for Part two later this summer. This hike is nice as there weren’t many people on the trail and it wasn’t a steep grade. On the “Huffing and Puffing” scale, I would give it a three!

Hiking Tip: To avoid an accidental run in with an animal, always look for signs of animals while hiking. Animals like to use the trails to travel also, as it takes less effort than blazing your own trail. If you cross a muddy section look for fresh tracks, if you find some determine the following: What kind of animal track? Prey or Predator? What direction is the print going? Does it look fresh? Did it rain recently or is the track dry and partial destroyed from others walking over it? That should help determine when the animal traveled through there. Look for Scat (Animal Poop) on or around the trail. If you find some give it a poke with your shoe or a stick, to see how fresh it is. If the Scat is soft or a light green it is fresh and be aware.  Meghan’s Huffing and Puffing Scale 1 = A piece of cake, I could hike this all day! (easy) 2 = Should I go farther…why not! (easy) 3 = Did I even sweat? (easy/moderate) 4 = A few switchbacks aren’t so bad (moderate) 5 = Thank god for the downhill sections (moderate) 6 = One switchback at a time (moderate/high) 7: Can’t talk, must breathe (high) 8 = Sweating and swearing a lot, but the view will be worth it! (high/extreme)

Hiking Albino Lake, Gallatin National Forest

Albino Lake hike is a 2.5 mile trek to the lake, making it a 5 mile out and back or you can make it a 4 mile loop connecting with Taylor Fork Rd. This hike is located off the Taylor Fork Rd. on Highway 191, just South of the 320 Guest Ranch. When you turn onto Taylor Fork Rd., follow it about 3.8 miles to the Wapiti Creek Rd. split. There will be a pit toilet and parking area, the trail starts across the Taylor Fork Rd.

I scoured my hiking map for a new trail to hike and this hike looked interesting. Of course I tried to find information online about it and got a couple descriptions for the mileage and what to expect.

I planned on going on the Albino Lake trail by myself but my husband insisted I did not go by myself as it is heavily populated by Grizzlies. So I recruited my nephew and my fur child, Fredo to join me on the hike. We hiked in the afternoon as I knew mid-day would be very warm. Once you cross Taylor Fork Rd. you will see the trail head sign and within ¼ of a mile there will be a bridge to cross the Taylor Fork Creek.

The trail winds through the open meadows, with lots of wild flowers. The hike is moderate and climbs slowly up to the lake. About half way, there will be a section where the earth has shifted and sunk, forming two small lakes. The first lake was dried up and the second lake Fredo jumped in for a swim. In the upper right of picture 2, you can see the sunken earth in the photo. We arrived at Albino Lake and found a small trail around the lake. There was lots of activity at the lake with fish rising, ducks swimming, birds and even a beaver (Picture 3 & 4). We hiked back the way we came but you can make it a loop by heading around the lake and out to the Taylor Fork Road.

Hiking in Big Sky Area

This spring I planned a hike to Indian Ridge Trail, located north of the 320 Guest Ranch. I had hiked it probably eight years ago and remembered only a few details about the trek. As I was planning the hike, I searched the internet for information about the trail. I found information about the some trails in the Big Sky area, mostly the heavy traveled trails though. It seemed that the less traveled hiking trails weren’t written about or had little details or pictures available, go figure!  For the remaining hiking season, I will blog about these obscure trails. My hope is to aid fellow hikers and guests to explore the beautiful and less trodden trails. So let’s start where it all began at Indian Ridge Trailhead.

Indian Ridge Trail, Hwy 191-9 miles out and back.

I had a wild hair to re-hike Indian Ridge Trail this spring. I knew the hike was up hill most of the way but couldn’t remember how far it was and how hard it was. I talked my nephew into joining me on this trek. He was visiting from the Midwest and looked forward to a hike. Also hiking was my four legged friend Fredo. We started the hike at ten in the morning with another car parked at the trailhead. The hike started up hill, then into the woods. We walked along the draw of the drainage basin for about a half mile, allowing my dog to play in the water and drink some too (Photo 1). As we walked on, the switch backs began. The switch backs were of the longer version not being too steep but I still took a break here and there to catch my breath (Photo 2).  As we gained elevation on the switch backs we walked into a beautiful bloom of wild flowers and great views of Garnett Mtn (Photo 3). After about an hour we started to ascend quite high almost level to adjacent ridges and kept wondering and saying aloud to each other if we were close to the top yet (Photo 4). We kept on hiking with each turn in the trail looking like it was the top. After another half an hour of walking we took a break and enjoyed the view. Of course we both forgot to wear watches or bring a cell phone so we weren’t sure how long we had been hiking or how far we had gone. We discussed turning back as it seemed we just kept on walking uphill with no end in sight. We decided to suck it up and keeping going as I remembered there was a large open field at the top of the ridge. We trekked on, walking in the woods and looking for the top of the ridge. We finally came out of the woods and it flattened out a little with the trail following the edge of a steep meadow. As we walked, there was still snow present and sticking to the trail. My nephew loved seeing the snow and didn’t mind venturing on as we were not heading up hill anymore. We finally could see the meadow I remembered a few turns ahead on the trail. Of course a storm was blowing in with rain clouds and the snow was slick and difficult to walk in (Photo 5 &6). We decided to turn back, after almost summiting the ridge and glad we did because the storm blew in and it got nasty. The walk back down was of course faster than the way up and we cruised through all the switch back sections. When we got to the car, the clock said it was 2 p.m. and it had been four hours that we were hiking. I would guess it was a nine mile out and back for us. Needless to say we ate a big meal and loved every bite after that hike. Next week Albino Lake.

Upgrades and Updates ...

Wow, it's been a while since we've posted - sorry about that!

The ranch has had a pretty busy winter right until Mother Nature gave us a spring preview a bit too early and melted our snow a little too quickly down here! We had to stop our sleighs just after St Patrick's day... but we gave plenty of folks some good ol' Montana fun until then. The sleigh rides really never get old, you can be on your 20th one and it's still as cool as the first time you did it. We all already thinking about next year and more snowy fun!

The Steakhouse has had a pretty busy winter - and there is just one more week to enjoy the delicious food and then you have to wait all the way until June 10 for it again...SO you better mosey on down and get some of the delicious food they are cooking up ... I recommend the elk medallions or the pork - BOTH DIVINE! But then again everything on the menu is so it's kind of hard to pick!

Well, although things are quieting down we are working hard behind the scenes to get some things lined out for the summer to make the ranch better than ever.

First thing we are working on is expanding our kitchen. Chef Martin and his crew do a great job of putting out delicious food each and every day but we are busting at the seams in the summer when we have 2 or 3 events happening and we are running the steakhouse, so we have, with the help of Hackbarth Construction, starting putting in another partial line so we can handle the ever growing lists of events more easily. The new line will be up and running for the summer season and we are all so excited!

Secondly we are finishing the room renovations that we started last winter. All the cabins got new paint, carpet, tile, light fixtures, linen, and mattresses last year - this year they are getting new window coverings, furniture, lamps, headboards, alarm clocks (with Mp3 connections), Kuerigs, kitchenettes in the units that have those, new counter-tops in the units with kitchens, new appliances in the full size kitchens, refrigerators in the deluxe log cabins, new TV's and new artwork and a few other little things here and there to make everything look great. PHEEW that's a lot of upgrades!!!

We are working hard to make our cabins as comfortable as we can and keep them up to date but let them keep their cabin-y charm. We think that the upgrades are pretty great and hope that you do too!

We will try to keep you updated with pictures as things progress - all the projects are just coming to fruition and the hard work will start soon!!

Snow, Snow, Snow.... what do we do with all the snow?

People are always asking us - what do you guys do with all of the snow you get?
Especially if you live somewhere that doesn't get much or any.

It's not an easy answer and it isn't easy work, but living where we see snow 6 months of the year we have to keep up with it and it's a part of our life.

For the roads we have two trucks with plows attached to them. We have a larger dully HD truck and an older Chevy (red rover we call him) - that work together to get the main roadways plowed and cleared of snow. We have several areas on the ranch that we have to push the snow out of the way. Later in the winter when the snow really piles up sometime the piles are too large for the truck to push over so Marce has to fire up the Caterpillar 966 front end loader and move the piles back or make them higher.

We also have a skid-steerer that we use that has a bucket and also a snow blower attachment that is pretty handy in getting into the little crevices that the trucks can't. Also because we have metal roofs on all of our buildings, after it snows and the sun comes out the snow on the roofs will slide off in front of the cabins - this is where the skid-steerer really shines.

Also we have good ol man power shoveling that has to be done to keep the walkways, decks, and steps clear. For the large decks that aren't covered we have a hand driven Honda snow-blower. Most of the decks, steps etc are shoveled by hand by our maintenance and housekeeping crews.

The key to snow removal is getting the snow up before it's been walked or driven on; so on days that mother nature likes to send us large amounts of snow it's up and at'em early by 5 am to get things cleared before people head to breakfast at 7.But it takes nearly the whole day of work to get everything cleaned up; even with the early start.

So, there's  how we do it... just piece by piece and keeping up with it we are able to deal with the about 300 inches of snow annually that we receive here at the ranch.

The 320 Steakhouse is open!

The 320 Steakhouse opened December 14th. We had a great start to the winter season. The 320 Steakhouse features favorites like the Cowboy Ribeye or Rainbow Trout with Chef Lewis' culinary twist to the entrees. Chef is inspired by the west and utilizes locally grown foods to fulfill his vision of Montana Cowboy Cuisine.

Our first night went well, we had some diners from the ranch and locals that evening. All were happy and well fed, some saying too well. The second evening the Sleigh Rides began and we had a busy dining room with guests enjoying a relaxing dinner after their sleigh ride.

This week Chef Lewis is featuring three course dinner. The first course has three Montana cheese's. The entree is a 16 oz. Cowboy Cut Ribeye from the Lazy SR Ranch in Wilsaw, MT. He is cold smoking the steak, a process that uses ice in the smoker instead of heat.  This process delivers the smokey flavor and allows the steak to be grilled to temperature later. The Ribeye melts in your mouth with a Flathead Cherry Port Wine Demi-Glace. To finish a creme brulee with a huckleberry brittle. Come down for this amazing taste of Montana, the three course dinner has a limited supply.

In the Steakhouse you will still find Steve tending bar and we have two new servers, Anna and Nathan. Anna is a true Big Sky local, born and raised here in Big Sky-rare to find but always a gem! Nathan has been pursuing his literary studies at MSU and has just finished the semester, now he is ready to learn how to ski. Any night you might find John Richardson, our General Manager greeting the guests, or Meghan and Angela making the 320 Magic happen in The Steakhouse.

If you pop your head into the kitchen you will find Chef Martin Lewis directing his staff, long time employee's Lee and Mike. Also on the line is Daniel, he is a true weekend warrior in the army reserve. As the winter season picks up we will have more staff returning or starting to work for us.
We are so excited by the snow that has been falling, turning the ranch into a true winter wonderland. Come down and see us soon, whether it is a Sleigh Ride with Marce or for a delicious dinner from Chef Martin's Montana Cowboy Cuisine. Happy holidays-The Steakhouse Staff

Sleigh Rides!

It's one of our favorite times of the year - it's time for our sleigh rides to start! 

Tonight is our first night and we have 29 folks signed up for the 5:30 ride, how exciting and what a great start! (and a 9:00 dessert ride too - who doesn't love hot berry cobbler from a cast iron dutch oven?)

This year we have a few new faces, and some that we all know and love. Marce is our head of horse operations and our lead sleigh driver. Marce has been at the ranch for 15 years and takes great care of our guests and horses. We have him to thank for many of the successes that the ranch has. This year our second sleigh driver is Austin, he's new to the 320 but has spent two summers down the road at the Covered Wagon. Austin is from Ohio and went to Hocking College, and we are excited to have him join the team. Eric is our third wrangler and he will be manning the warming tent this winter - he's everyone favorite since he's the smiling face you will see behind the bar in the tent. ;) Eric spent the summer with us as a wrangler and enjoyed it so much he decided to stay for the winter. He's been working on his team driving so we might even get to see him man the reigns later this winter. 

And of course we couldn't have our sleigh rides without our beautiful draft horses!!
Kicking off the season this year are Ace & Joe and Tim & Jim. 

Ace and Joe are a team of Percherons.  Ace came to us as a saddle horse in his younger days but then we realized pretty early on he clearly was a bit more than he appeared. Joe came to us a bit later and is also trained to be ridden under saddle- although it takes a pretty big girth to get  around this guy! We use him only as a wagon/sleigh horse, and he loves his job. These two have worked together for several years and really stop the show when they get going! Ace and Joe are our 'rockstars' as we call them, always great at posing for pictures, the first to come up for treats and attention, and I am sure they would be great at signing autographs if only they had thumbs! Everyone can spot Ace from a mile away, you don't see many 2,000 pound black and white painted horses - he is truly unique. 

Ace and Joe

Next we have Tim and Jim, they are our only Belgian team that we have. Tim and Jim just came to the ranch this summer from the Club at Spanish Peaks, and we love them! They worked this summer pulling our wagons for the Chuckwagon BBQ dinners and this is our first sleigh rides with them; but they are no strangers as they did this in their last job. Tim and Jim pull very hard and have no trouble negotiating a full wagon or sleigh. They are perfectly matching so sometimes they can be hard to tell apart - but for us 'non' wranglers they can be told apart by how they stand when they are hitched. Teams of horses work together as a pair and are placed on the same side each and every time they are hooked to something. Tim and Jim go Tim on the right and Jim on the left if you are standing in front of them. 

Tim and Jim

We are so excited to kick off this winter season! It really is the best time of the year... and what would a Montana winter be without a horse drawn sleigh ride - well we don't think it would be much at all. 

PS - And our dining room is open too - and boy did Chef Martin outdo himself... everything is amazing!!! We'll write more on that later but in the meantime if you want to check out the menu you can see it at www.320ranch.com/dining/menu.php. Tons of great dishes and Martin spent the off season looking for local, sustainable,and just GOOD products to build an amazing menu with. We love supporting local businesses, it benefits everyone!