Classic Mountain Goat Photo

Day 3: My first thought was, "Oh, Joe is going to be so jealous!" My botany partner has been searching for goats all summer, and even as I was climbing past Handsome Billy en route to Panorama Point, Joe was off on his own "last hike of autumn" to Pinnacle Peak saddle. Billy was lying down when I first spotted him above the junction to Pebble Creek, roughly 100 feet from me. Having had a few goat experiences during my career, I wasn't going to try to get closer. I'd rather have to deal with a bear in the backcountry than a goat. You can reason with a bear if you gently explain that you need to reach your destination and don't try to force it to give ground. A territorial goat is another matter entirely, particularly a male. I edged a few feet up the Pebble Creek trail for a view clear or foreground rocks, but even that slight encroachment made Billy turn his attention toward me. Nope, deeming it not worth the risk to get closer, I retreated. Further along the trail, I looked back. Billy was on his feet now, backed by grey rocks in a classic mountain goat pose. As I zoomed in for the shot, I thought again of Joe, somewhere over there in the goatless Tatoosh, but I knew he'd be getting some spectacular photos of his own.

But enough of me. You're here because you want to know something about mountain goats, right? Ever wonder how they get out on some of those ledges, or more to the point, why they don't fall off? It's the hooves. A goat's hoof is cloven into two "toes," and each portion consists of a hard outer shell of keratin, the same stuff (goat version) which makes up your fingernails. Draw a teardrop-shape in your mind. That's the exterior of each toe. The center portion of the teardrop contains a rough-surfaced but soft pad not too unlike the pads on your dog or cat's feet. That soft portion functions like a suction cup when the goat steps onto a slick rock. To give even better traction, a goat's toes are somewhat flexible, spreading apart as weight is put on the hoof. This isn't saying that goats never make fatal judgment errors, but it happens rarely enough that you're almost as likely to find rock-climber bones at the base of a cliff as you are goat remains. Almost.