Cinnamon Mountain
August 3, 2007
Joanne from the Forest Service came to our virtual campfire one evening (no real fires, as the conditions were too dry.) Among other things, she told us about some of the hikes in the area, and left us a sheet with descriptions of her top ten. She said that Cinnamon Mountain was her favorite. This trail is just north of the NW corner of the Park, 45 miles from camp by the road. It was a popular hike and was led several times during camp.
When we arrived at the trailhead, there was a large group waiting there for their packer to come with horses to take them in to a nearby lake. We left them there (they were early), and hurried on up the trail. We followed Cinnamon Creek for about 2/3 of the way. On one hillside, John J. noted that there were circles of brown grass around the trees where they (the trees) prevented the light summer rains from reaching the ground. We took the right branch at the four-way junction and headed up the terraces to the top of Cinnamon Mountain. From there we had a magnificent, 360° view of the Rockies. To the southeast we could see into Yellowstone, to the northeast was the booming community of Big Sky, to the south we could just make out the Tetons through the haze, and due west stood a mysterious monolith listed as “The Sphynx” on old maps (now known as Sphinx Mountain.) We had beat the horses to the junction, but on the way back we saw ample evidence of them, both in dust and “fresh fruit.”
Hikers were: Marianne Camp, John Mowat, Chris Minirich, John Jacobsen, Sue Sullivan, Mel Zavodsky and Wayne Deeter, leader.
Sue’s photo op: “The Sphynx”
Big Sky, to the north
Chris, Mel and Marianne admire the view
Lookout on top of Cinnamon Mountain
photos by Wayne Deeter