Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sights on high


 Near midday a nanny goat finds a safe lookout ledge for her kid to take a nap while she rests and looks out for predators. 
 (photo by Mike Brodwater, corresp / The Spokesman-Review)
Mike Brodwater Correspondent

They could become one of your favorite animals. They have very white coats. Their kids are cute and they listen to their mothers. They do climb into places you would never let your kids go. A Realtor would kill for the land with a view where they live. Seeking out mountain goats in the Northwest mountains can be a rewarding experience.

It’s not like they are rare. They can be spotted with binoculars on the rocky cliffs that rise above Lake Pend Oreille across from Farragut State Park. In a boat, they can be approached fairly closely. According to the Idaho “Wildlife Viewing Guide,” mountain goats can also be seen occasionally in the Selkirk Mountains east of Priest Lake. The guide also describes goats located in north-central Idaho in the Mallard-Larkins Pioneer Area near Larkins Peak, and near high-mountain Heart Lake. They can be found around Mount Baker in the North Cascades in Washington.

There is controversy about the grass-eating goats in Olympic National Park. The Park Service would like to eliminate some that were transplanted into the park and are considered an exotic species. The goats are destroying high-elevation habitat. They live mostly above the tree line and climb on what seems to be impossibly steep, rocky terrain.

It’s probably getting pretty obvious that watching mountain goats requires climbing up to them in the cliffs where they live. But there is a place where you can often see mountain goats up close – sometimes almost too close for comfort – right from your car. Almost all summer goats can be found at Logan Pass on the Continental Divide on the Going-to-the-Sun highway in Glacier National Park.

If they are not along the side of the road, you still may have to walk to see them. But the scenery is so spectacular you won’t mind the effort. There is a visitor center at the pass and a well-signed walkway. The trail rises 500 feet in elevation on a wooden boardwalk that reaches an overlook that provides a spectacular, distant look down to remote Hidden Lake.

Because of the high elevation, your breath will literally be taken away as you hike up the trail. Often bighorn sheep will be seen, sometimes actually blocking the trail. That is the time to sit down and watch them and enjoy the rugged mountain scenery that is surrounding the sheep and you.

The sheep have a consistent routine in their life. They sleep on high rocky ledges out of reach of predators and forage for grasses in the morning. About the time you are eating a lunch out of your day pack, the sheep will be seen finding a secure place on a ledge where they can be watchful for predators. This is the time of day when they rest and apparently chew their cuds like a cow or domestic sheep. In the evening they can be seen up and foraging again. .

They are beautiful animals, especially in the fall, when their winter coats have grown in. National Park Service information on mountain goats is available from visitor centers and NPS Web sites. The males (billies) and females (nannies) look very much alike. They both have black, curved horns. However the males are larger, averaging about 250 pounds and up to 300 pounds. Females weigh about 30 percent less, around 150 pounds. Courting and mating occurs between November and January and a baby (kid) is born in the spring. Being a kid is not easy. Mortality rates average 60 to 70 percent in the first year and 50 percent during the second year of life. Causes of mortality include avalanches, falls, predation (mountain lion, golden eagles) parasites and poor winter conditions. The kids that survive are exceptionally cute.

Mountain goats have adapted well to their extreme living conditions. They have massive muscles in the shoulders and in the hindquarters that allow them to quickly climb rock and jump amazing distances. Their hooves have a soft center like a piece of rubber, enabling them to “stick” to a hard steep, rock surface. Although mountain goats live in places where winter conditions prevail nine months of the year, they stay very comfortable in a double layered, thick coat.

Mountain goats survive in high, inaccessible, steep, rocky and beautiful locations. If you make the effort to find them, their showy white coats and gentle, calm attitude just might make you a fan of theirs. Take the time to find some this year. The experience could be uplifting.