Madison Mountains
The Madison Mountains of Montana are 45 miles long, featuring a fairly thick area of rugged peaks and rolling uplands that lie between the northwestern boundary of Yellowstone National Park to the east, the Madison River Valley on the west, and Big Sky and Bozeman to the northeast. The highest peak in the Madison Range is also the highest peak in Montana outside the Beartooth Range. Hilgard Peak measures at 11,316 feet, and appears as a sharp horn, a remnant of its active past of glaciation. more info
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The Lee Metcalf Wilderness, which consists of four separate units, lies to the northwest of Yellowstone National Park, and protects significant portions of the Madison Mountain Range. The United States Congress designated the Lee Metcalf Wilderness in 1983 and it now has a total of 254,288 acres. The wilderness consists of a huddle of high peaks rising above 10,000 feet from exquisite subalpine meadows, managed by the BLM and the Gallatin and Beaverhead National Forests.
The four units are:
1. Bear Trap Canyon Unit - a stretch of wild canyon country along the Madison River. This was the BLM's first designated wilderness and encompasses 6,000 acres.
2. Monument Mountain Unit - lies on the northwest boundary of Yellowstone National Park. This isolated piece of territory, rarely visited but rich in wildlife, includes a large population of grizzly bears. All 30,000 plus acres lie within Gallatin National Forest.
3. Spanish Peaks Unit - encompasses steeply rugged, glaciated peaks rising more than 11,000 feet above scenic cirques and gemlike lakes. This area is heavily used, popular with both local and regional visitors for its developed trail system about 110 miles long.
4. Taylor-Hilgard Unit - largest unit of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness. It runs along the crest of the Madison Range, with several peaks looming 11,000 feet above the Hilgard Basin. Numerous meadows and lakes are surrounded by snowcapped summits in the Beaverhead and Gallatin National Forests.
The abundance of wildlife make this region a mecca for observing the great diversity of the native species in their true environment. The general area contains some of the best grizzly bear and elk country in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Beginning about 1999, wolves began to den in the Madison Range. The Taylor Peaks wolf pack are known to have denned in these mountains in 2000 and 2002. Other wildlife include deer, moose, mountain lions, mountain goats, and black bears. The lakes and streams are home to cutthroats, graylings, rainbows, and brooke trout.
The Madison Mountains are convenient to neighboring communities of Ennis, Big Sky and Bozeman. The outdoor playground offers phenomenal hiking, and holds many of the most popular and impressive climbing and mountaineering in the area. Yet only the northern section, the Spanish Peaks, has ever become popular with hikers. The area south of the Spanish Peaks all the way to the Hilgard Basin on the southern tip of the Madison Range offers good hiking also. The loop trail between the Sphinx and the Helmet nicely illustrates this fact. In the heart of the Madison Range lies Sphinx Mountain at 10,876 feet which, in fact, looks much like a sphinx. It is popular in the winter for ski-mountaineering and can be done in a day, weather permitting.
The outdoor recreational opportunities and the relaxed mountain lifestyle are big reasons why many people love Montana. The Madison River Valley and the Madison Mountains are no exception. Recreational opportunities are numerous in the Madison Mountains. This great wilderness offers undoubtedly some of Montana's finest hiking, with a developed trail system that links all four units of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness. This area promotes responsible recreating along the fisheries and in the rugged topography of the vast wilderness. Not only is the area rich in recreation, but the Madison Mountains are plentiful with life that exceeds most individual's imagination.
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