Whiskey Mountain

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Whiskey Mountain
Whiskey Mountain from the south

Whiskey Mountain from the south

height 3401  m
location Fremont County , Wyoming , USA
Mountains Northeastern Wind River Range , Rocky Mountains
Notch height 212 m
Coordinates 43 ° 25 '48 "  N , 109 ° 37' 21"  W Coordinates: 43 ° 25 '48 "  N , 109 ° 37' 21"  W
Whiskey Mountain (Wyoming)
Whiskey Mountain
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The Whiskey Mountain ( 3401  m ) is a mountain in the north-eastern Wind River Range in the Rocky Mountains . It is located in Fremont County in the state of Wyoming almost twelve kilometers south of Dubois . The mountain owes its striking name to the fact that there was a hidden camp on its flanks during the rendezvous of trappers and fur traders . The mountain is on the northern edge of the Fitzpatrick Wilderness , which is part of the Shoshone National Forests . Since the mid-20th century, Whiskey Mountain has been known for a herd of bighorn sheep that live there and spend the winter on the mountain's northern flanks.

Location and surroundings

The ridge of Whiskey Mountain arises between the valley of Jackeys Fork in the north and that of West Torrey Creek in the south. The latter is the outflow of Ross Lake , which is southwest of the mountain, and flows through the Hidden Lake and Lake Lousie on its further course to the east , before it joins the East Torrey Creek . The Torrey Creek turns a few kilometers after the confluence of the two source streams to the north and flows through the three directly connected lakes on the east side of Whiskey Mountain, Trail Lake , Ring Lake and Torrey Lake .

Whiskey Mountain, located in the extreme northeast of the Wind River Range, is separated from the high granite peaks in the center of the mountain range by less prominent, higher peaks: At Ram Flat ( 3731  m ), Goat Flat ( 3806  m ) and Downs Mountain ( 4069  m ) they are broad, plateau-like peaks that determine the panorama south of the mountain. The mountains of the Absaroka Range in the north show more striking shapes .

Flora and fauna

The lower slopes are semi-arid , and the tree vegetation in the form of conifers is limited to the north and east slopes, on the other expositions there are mugwort and clump-forming grasses. The tree line is approximately 3100 meters above sea level, above which only herbaceous plants and grasses survive .

The area around the Whiskey Mountains is home to the wintering area of ​​one of the largest herds of bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis ) in the Rocky Mountains within the United States . These are mainly on the north side of the mountain, where a fire in 1931 burned larger areas. Today the flexible pine ( Pinus flexilis ) and the common Douglas fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii ) can be found there , with stumps of burned trees in between. An area of ​​almost 2 km² has been designated as a Wilderness Study Area since 1992 .

After the size of the herd in the area of ​​the Whiskey Mountains had reached a maximum of 1700 animals in 1990, pessimistic estimates in 2004 only assumed 650 specimens. The reasons for this decline are the outbreak of pneumonia in the winter of 1990/91 and a low reproductive rate, which fell sharply with the outbreak of pneumonia and has not increased since then. The individual exchange with other herds is very low. One reason for this is probably that the area around the US Highway 287 / 26 is a corridor with little suitable habitat and so the exchange with the herds in the north limited.

Alpinism

Trails run through the south, west and north flanks of the mountain. To the north, this is the Whiskey Creek Trail , which leads from the Whiskey Basin on Trail Lake Road in a south-westerly direction through the valley of the eponymous stream and meets the Whiskey Mountain Trail about 2 kilometers northwest of the Whiskey Mountains . The latter circles from this junction from the mountain through the west and south flanks and leads down to the Trail Lake Ranch , which is the end point of the Trail Lake Road a little above the Trail Lake . This is the usual starting point for an ascent. From there you follow the Whiskey Mountain Trail west to the south flank of the mountain. Above the tree line, you can leave the trail at any point and reach the summit without a path through the south or west flank. From the starting point you have to overcome 1100 meters in altitude, the time required is approximately three hours, the level of difficulty is given as Class 1 in the Yosemite Decimal System .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Whiskey Mountain at listsofjohn.com, accessed November 30, 2017
  2. ↑ a b c Whiskey Mountain at summitpost.org, accessed November 30, 2017
  3. ^ A b Joe Kelsey: Climbing and Hiking in the Wind River Mountains. Third edition. FalconGuides, Guilford (Connecticut) 2013, ISBN 0-7627-8078-9 , pp. 72f, 80 ( Google books ).
  4. ^ A b Kurt Becker, Tom Varcalli, E. Tom Thorne, Gary B. Butler: Seasonal distribution patterns of Whiskey Mountain bighorn sheep. In: Proceeding of 1st Biennale Symposium Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council. 1978, pp. 1-16 ( online ).
  5. ↑ Ron Adkison, Ben Adkison: Hiking Wyoming's Wind River Range. FalconGuides, Guilford (Connecticut) 2012, ISBN 0-7627-8916-6 , p. 268 ( Google books ).
  6. ↑ United States, Bureau of Land Management, Rawlins District: Whiskey Mountain-Dubois Badlands, wilderness supplement to the Lander RMP, Rawlins District, Wyoming: draft. 1988, p. 13 ( online ).
  7. ↑ United States, Bureau of Land Management: Statewide Wilderness Study Report, Study Area Specific Recommendations. 1991, p. 177 ( online ).
  8. ↑ National Landscape Conservation System - Wilderness Study Areas . United States, Bureau of Land Management. December 2009. Archived from the original on February 22, 2013. Retrieved on December 13, 2017.
  9. ↑ John J. Beecham, Cameron P. Collins, Timothy D. Reynolds: Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis): A Technical Conservation Assessment. USDA Forest Service, 2007 ( online ).

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