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Posted by Ballpark Frank (64.79.35.96) on 19:15:09 02/10/18
In Reply to: I recall... posted by 46er
Ralph,
Over the years, there have been a succession of reports of visitors and employees seeing a mountain goat around Gibbon Falls. I've seen a few photos folks have posted on chat pages and Facebook. The only area anywhere near the Gibbon Canyon, Norris, or the Chain of Lakes where mountain goats are seen is in the southern Gallatin Mountains. I have never heard of mountain goats in the Washburn Range, and I have spent a LOT of time on those mountains, without ever seeing a mountain goat. Even bighorn seem to be restricted to Mt. Washburn. I have walked the ridgeline from Observation Peak to Cook Peak on 4 occasions, and never saw goats or sheep up there. I've been up on Folsom and Prospect Mountains, along with Dunraven with the same results, yet I have seen bighorn repeatedly on Washburn. I see them up there through my scope occasionally from the curves above Antelope Creek on the north side and the pullouts in Hayden Valley on the south side.
I was very surprised to find mountain goats near the water's edge in both Resurrection Bay near Seward, and Prince William Sound, in Alaska. I asked one of the crew on the boat we were on in Resurrection Bay about the mountain goats we were seeing (in close proximity to a large haulout of stellar's sea lions), and they said they see them there all the time.
I've always assumed mountain goats were only found in high, cliffy places, but I am realizing they might pop up anywhere.
Ballpark
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