Yogo Peak complex 'Stonehenge'

I'm sure I've done Yogo Peak (elevation: 8,811 feet) in the Little Belts, but can't remember the circumstances.

It may have been about seven years ago when I did a disastrous drive through from Kings Hill to Stanford on a road so bad I tipped my car into a tree, requiring some expensive body work. I sort of recall driving to Yogo base and scrambling up some talus. Not memorable.

This time though it was a different story.

I figured I could reach the base of the peak by taking Forest Service Road 3328, near the Winter Recreation Area turnout on US 89 up 4 miles to its junction with Road 251, where I drove another 4 miles, stopped and began hiking because of the rough road.

It was only another mile or so to the top of the peak.

It took about an hour to drive the 8 miles because the road is so full of rocks, talus and ruts.

But, instead of taking the road all the way I got off into the amazing boulders and talus of the less unnamed peaks to the south along the ridge line I had always assumed were Yogo Peak.

There are several "hole in the wall" formations, Easter Island and Stonehenge-type boulders, and other boulders that resembled huge monsters. In addition, there were many rocks balancing precariously atop others.

I spent considerable time scrambling around in these rocks before descending to the road for a short trip up to the top of Yogo. Yogo is nothing but a big pile of talus on a fairly flat ridge that ends with the concrete footings of what used to be Forest Service fire lookout.

The views along the ridge are breathtaking: I counted nine different mountain ranges I could identify, and there were at least a half-dozen more out there I couldn't figure out. I could see to the Bearpaws on the north near the Canadian border and the Absaroka range on the southern border of Montana. Nearby Big Baldy, the glaciated highest peak in the Little Belts at 9,177 feet, was a short distance away to the west.

My main goal in climbing Yogo was to get a clear overview of the north end of the Middle Fork of the Judith Wilderness Study Area and how the Prospect and Woodchopper ridges could be reached from it. It was interesting to see where the Yogo wildfire burned three years ago, but it touched only a small portion of this large area.

I'm surprised by the amount of opposition to this WSA that has been going on for nearly 50 years.

It is a shame that the Little Belts, roughly the size of Glacier Park, is without any designated wilderness despite places like the Middle Fork and Deep Creek-Tenderfoot, and even the Big Baldy area.

Unfortunately, motorcycles and quads have access with the road, that in many places forms the WSA boundary, and track into it, despite a ban on motorized vehicles.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the hike were all the wildflowers, particularly the bright blue larkspur and lupine.