Flatiron Mountain

I was cautious about running this trail with snow still melting above, making for muddy trails below. There were some deep sections of mud and puddles, but the rocky ground below gave enough traction to make it through. I also only run this trail downhill for the same reason: I've had to stack branches to make it through the mud bogs when running toward Soap Creek. Someone came through with a chainsaw and widened the opening in the fallen tree: nice views and a beautiful day on the trails.

We love the views of the Centennials along this trail. We were met with a downed tree across the road and no way around, so the wife and I took turns with a hand saw and pulled a section out of the way. Big thanks to whoever started to cut through it. Fortunately, we only had to cut the other half.

We hit many trails this afternoon looking for critters. We started out crossing the Madison River at Hutchins Bridge, heading up West Fork Madison to Standard Creek, turning left at Soap Creek, and following it through Flatiron Mountain and Freezeout Creek, making the loop back to Standard Creek. The trails were in great shape, Flatiron Mountain had less mud than usual and was easy to traverse. Once back at Standard Creek Road, we were amazed to have seen nine deer on this short loop, so we decided to head back down Standard Creek to West Fork Madison, where we saw a doe and two tiny fawns, then up Jackpine Gulch to East Bench. We had to clear a couple of downed trees from East Bench; otherwise, there were no issues with this trail. We saw two more deer on the way in and hiked around the end of the trail for a few. It was a surprise looking through the charred tree at how close we were to Cliff Lake. Headed back out, we took Jackknife out to Cliff Lake Bench and watched the sunset. Driving out in the twilight, we saw a couple of elk and a few more doe and fawn. All in all, on this trip we saw 19 of these four-legged critters. That's usually pretty close to our tally for an entire summer. For one evening, that was amazing!

Flatiron Mountain for me was Part 2 of the 3 trails that make up a loop which (with all 3) begins and ends off the Standard Creek Trail. Freezeout Creek and Soap Creek being the other 2 within the loop. Of these 3 trails that make up this loop I gave Flatiron Mountain the highest rating as for me it was the highlight of the loop. With sections of the Flatiron Mountain Trail that open up into grass fields, the views are absolutely outstanding. The trail on this particular day was dry and in great shape. Some rocks to keep an eye out for but all in all this was a trail that was more about the views off the road vs. those on the road. Thanks guys, great trail!

Another beautiful sunny day in the mountains. There was smoke on the horizon from the wildflowers, you would have never guessed that the next day it dumped a couple of inches of snow.

I enjoy the views of the mountains on this trail. We usually run the loop once a year and the road is generally pretty dry by this time of year. The snow lingered a month longer than usual, and this summer was stormy, so there are some pretty muddy sections of road. No complaints with the mud though, we usually know summer as the smoke season and sometimes can't even see the mountains from this trail due to the number of wildfires typically burning this time of year. This time around we saw a moose (only a quick glimpse after the last mud shot in the video), sure wish I was faster with the camera!