Every year of so I hike up the trail to Mount Headley because of the beauty of the mountain and the surrounding country. It was the site of one of the first fire lookouts in Montana and sits at 7400 feet where it looks over many miles of forest in all directions. The four mile trail is rather gentle and it spreads the climb of 1400 feet evenly over its entire length. As a bonus, a short side trail at about the first mile point lets the hiker stand on a sheer, rocky cliff about 500 feet over the south end of a small cirque lake called Image Lake. I will never forget one morning a few years ago when I stood there watching the sun rise and listening to a wolf pack howling on the trail above me and down beside the lake. Mount Headley is an old friend.(The following photos were taken on October 15, 2015)
Terrace Lake sits about due north of one of my favorite places, Mount Headley in the Cube Iron – Silcox Roadless Area, but it is not approachable from that direction, instead, the trail head to the lake is at the end of the West Fork of Fishtrap Creek road: well, not at the very end, but believe me you don’t want to drive on that road any further. At the present time, the trail does not show on any map and the trail sign is missing. Other than that, it’s a cinch to find.
The trail itself was renovated about four years ago and it is the very best trail that I have ever seen. Those who worked on it really knew what they were doing! It winds and climbs about a thousand feet through beautiful forest for about 2 miles to the lake which, …well, I’ll let the photos say the rest.
About half of the following photos are of the trail itself and the balance are of the lake.
Mount Headley stands at an elevation of 7,429 feet in the Cube Iron/Silcox roadless area in the Lolo National Forest of western Montana. It has become one of my favorite places to visit.
