Black Mountain Lookout

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Features Birding · Commonly Backpacked · Spring · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

Black Mountain Lookout not only offers astonishing 360 degree views of the Bighorns, but it also gives you a sense of history along the way. The beginning of the hike welcomes you with a thick lodgepole forest, wildflowers, and small streams. At the summit, you'll find an old fire lookout used by forest rangers in the early part of the 20th Century. Today, this tiny cabin perched on top of the 9,400' peak serves as a comfortable resting place after your hike.

Most of the trail is a 50" ATV trail but eventually turns into singletrack.

There are a few ways to do this hike. You can start right from Forest Road #16 and take the long way, or, use an ATV/UTV and go as far up the road as you can to shorten the hike significantly if you're on a time crunch. 90% of the route is hiking through a thick forest, but once you reach the summit the views are astonishing. The old fire lookout cabin has a deck that you can wonder around and sits at 9,400 feet. One of the tallest peaks on the east face of the Bighorn Mountains with views of Cloud Peak, Black Tooth, and Steamboat Rock.

Black Mountain is one of the tallest peaks north of the Cloud Peak Wilderness making it stand out significantly from the highway. To the south, you'll observe the peaks of Black Tooth, Mt. Woolsey, and Cloud Peak, all of which stand over 13,000 feet. Looking west, you'll find several lakes, Granite Pass, and the Bighorn high country. North of Black Mountain sits Tongue River Canyon, Steamboat Point, and the Bighorn Scenic Byway. Eastward, you can see for hundreds of miles (if it's not fire season) towards the City of Sheridan and the rest of the Wyoming lowlands.

Spruce and lodgepole.

Used to be an old fire lookout during the 20th Century.