Snow in the foreground shadow of the mountain with sun shining on rocky, yellow and green mountain slopes with a blue sky and flat land in the distance

A tan pickup truck parked on a dirt road with a picnic table in the foreground near a pine tree

I’ve had a string of difficult months in Oregon, so I decided to pack up and drive to Wyoming for a few weeks to break up the routine. Thankfully, my 2003 Ford Ranger managed the 16-hour, 1,000-mile drive better than I expected.

I’ve been in Wyoming for a week, but today was the first chance I had to get out into the mountains for a walk. I chose Grouse Mountain Trail, thinking that if the weather was poor or the hike wasn’t what I thought it would be, I could bail and walk the connected trail that extends from downtown Buffalo, Wyoming, all the to the trailhead of this hike.

Pine trees line a partially frozen creek with the sun cresting a hill in the background

Pine trees in the foreground with a canyon in the distance, with blue sky and wisps of white cloud

A hand holds bright green lichen with a forest-lined trail blurry in the background

I’m continually inspired by the proximity of mountain recreation within minutes of my parents’ front door. I drove just 15 minutes to the start of this hike, and I saw only one other person the during the walk.

Setting out from the Mosier Gulch day-use area, I walked a two-track road to the trailhead, taking a short spur to the “ice caves” (marked on my map), essentially a massive aggregation of large boulders with wide gaps.

The hike itself traverses the eponymous mountain, winding in and out of snowy pine forest, ultimately cresting a bluff to reveal some of the higher peaks of the Cloud Peak Wilderness.

Grasses emerge from a snowy meadow in the foreground, with forested hills in the background leading to rocky peaks with a road on the left side of the frame

I’ll likely only be in Wyoming for a few weeks, so I hope to get up into the Bighorns a few more times before winter really sets in.

Snow covers the ground in the shadow of the mountain while sun shines on a snowless hillside in the background

A weathered wood sign reads Grouse Mountain Trail with rocks surrounding the post with a sign on the other side of the trail that reads Trail 205

Aspen trees line a small bog with large rocks scattered throughout

Track

  • Distance: 6.77 miles
  • Ascent: 1,261 ft
  • Max elevation: 6,890 ft