Big Horn County High Point Trip Report
Date: July 2000
Author: Jerry Brekhus
We approached the highpoint from the Wyoming side since it is on the state line and the Wyoming side is
Bighorn Nat'l Forest land with known public access. I don't know the access status of the Crow Indian
Reservation side.
Driving directions: From US 14A at the Big Horn-Sheridan County line (Wyoming) take the Devil
Canyon Road 3.4 miles to the Sheep Mountain Road (FH 11). From there we drove 8 miles on FH 11 and
parked at the junction of FR 105 near Sheep Mountain. We chose to park there and hike, but you could
continue driving to the Montana state line on FH 11 which became a primitive road after 6 miles. It is in
pretty good shape. (A bulldozer was maintaining it when we were there.) A 2-wheel drive pickup should
be adequate in good weather. From the Montana state line it is about a 2-mile round-trip hike roughly
paralleling the state line on a two-track road now closed to traffic. Vertical gain on the closed road is
about 460 feet. The state line is marked by both a barbed wire fence and an older wooden zigzag fence.
For our hike we went over the top of 9813 ft. Sheep Mountain. Much of the distance was across mountain
meadows with unobstructed views under a cloudless sky, although smoke from distant forest fires was
visible down in the Bighorn Basin. This was in contrast to our earlier attempt the day after Father's Day
when the road was still blocked by a snow bank (7.7 miles up Sheep Mountain Rd.) and we hiked in
weather that developed into steady rain.
Timber at the top limits the view at the very high point, but just a quarter mile south one can see for miles
to distant landmarks in nearly any direction.
Although it is a liner, it is interesting that this high point is nearly at the exact summit of the hill, because
the state line passes almost directly over the top. A few yards into Wyoming, the ground is possibly a few
feet (inches?) higher.
We arrived back at our vehicle still with a mostly clear sky after hiking 16 miles total.