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Description
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View from
10,000 feet
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View of Big Timber Canyon
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Crazies rising
above the Plains
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The Crazy Mountains rise
dramatically some 7,000 feet above the Yellowstone River Valley and
the surrounding plains 15 miles northwest of Big Timber. They
cover an area of 136,547 acres and are part of the Gallatin and Lewis
& Clark national forests. It is a road-less area which is
not classified as a wilderness area leaving it vulnerable to mining
and other exploitation. These formations stimulate the hopes of geologists searching for beds of trapped gas. The
controversy over resource development is complicated here by the same
checkerboard
land ownership present in neighboring ranges to the southwest. Nineteenth
century railroad land grants, now mostly passed on to other parties, make
coherent resource management difficult. Several efforts at legal
protection for the remaining wild areas of the Crazy Mountains have failed in
the past, but conservationists have once again proposed wilderness designation
for the Crazies. For the moment, however, the Crazy
Mountains remain the most spectacular alpine range in Montana without wilderness
protection.
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range is a maze of almost vertical peaks, saw-tooth
ridges, talus fields stemming from broken
cliffs, and lush alpine cliques with snow-fed
lakes. The Crazy Mountains range of elevation is from 5,590
to 11,214 feet - the tallest being Crazy peak. (See a
fantastic view of Crazy Mountain from atop Crazy Peak- Dont miss this! )
They include 23 volcanic glacier carved peaks above 10,000 feet- 15 of them unnamed. The
formations seen in the
Crazies evidence the heavy imprint of extensive glaciations which has gouged the
peaks in several directions simultaneously. Alpine medows with coniferous
Douglas firs dot the stream valleys and
mountainsides. As you look at the peaks from the
valleys or atop a ridge, you will see one of the largest exposed
areas of
igneous rock in the world. Popular recreation opportunities
in the Crazy Mountains include: hiking, backpacking, mountaineering,
horseback riding, cross-country skiing, fishing, and
hunting. Mountaineering includes rock climbing and peak
scrambling.
Within this area you will find 40 alpine
lakes with good fishing. The major mountain drainages
flow year long into Sweet Grass Creek, Big Timber Creek,
Shields River, Rock Creek, and Cottonwood Creek.
Mountain goats call these peaks home - surviving on the moss
and lichen growing on rocks and in talus fields.
Along with mountain
goats, the Crazy mountains are home to eagles soaring high overhead,
elk, deer, black bear, and mountain lion and the largest population of
wolverines in the world. |
Talus fields drain snowmelt into a Cirque in the central Crazy
Mountains.
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The Crazy Mountains can be seen as a
backdrop to the recent Robert Redford movie "The
Horse Whisperer" in which Redford plays a horse
trainer after real life horse whisperer Monty Roberts and
his book "The Man Who Listens to Horses"..
History
of the Crazy Mountains
The source of the name of the Crazy Mountains is unknown, but
several ideas include:
-
Legend has it that a white woman driven crazy when
Indians killed her family wandered into the mountains
here. The legend lives on in the
movie "Jeremiah Johnson".
- Indians called them the "Mad
Mountains" for their steepness, rugged beauty, and
haunting winds that blow down the canyons.
- The lava up-thrusts are young
in the perspective of time and do not fit in with
neighboring rock formations, hence the name
"Crazy."
- The
Crow name for the Crazies is Blue Bird Mountains.
Crazies have been
inhabited by Indians for over 11,500 years. The Shoshone and Crow have
summer camped in the canyons and hunted the vast herds of deer, antelope, and elk.
Sometime around 1857, Plenty Coups, the
last great pre-reservation chief of the Crow Indians,
realized a vision on top of Crazy Peak with which to
guide his people. Between
1860 and 1880 the Indians gave way to trappers, traders,
and settlers. The Crazies weren't named by the U.S. Government
until the 1860s.
Access
to the Crazy Mountains
| Surrounding private landholders have a
long history of restricting the public. The major public
access' are Cottonwood Road (FR 198) from the west and Big Timber Canyon
Road (FR 197) to the east. At the end of Big
Timber Canyon Road is Half Moon Campground which serves as a
major public access trailhead to the core of the Crazy
Mountains. Parking is available at Half Moon Campground
and is free to the public. To get to Big Timber Canyon's
Half Moon Campground, Take US 191 north from I- 90's Big
Timber Exits. Travel approximately 11 miles north on 191
to Big Timber Canyon Road - a gravel road maintained by the
county- and turn left heading west towards the Crazy
Mountains. You will be able to see the mountains all
along your travels to Half Moon Campground. You stay on
the gravel road for about 14 miles through private
land. |
View of Big Timber Canyon on the way to the Trailhead at Half
Moon Campground.
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| Keep going up the canyon- you
will encounter a gate at a Dude Ranch which you are allowed to
go through and finally end up at Half Moon Campground. An
extensive 66 mile trail system within the Crazy mountains
makes it among the best hiking and adventure areas in the
state of Montana. |
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Description
