Trail Description
NOTE: The GPS coordinates are not a true trailhead. There’s no real trailhead for this hike, and it follows an old road ending close to the summit. It seems to be common for people to drive up the road as much as they can and then hike the rest of the way. There are private land parcels on this road, so make sure you are parked on public land (which our coordinates are). Towards the top of this mountain, there is a gate belonging to a private landowner. Be prepared to bushwack on public land to these summits.
The hike up to Elkhorn Peak and Windy Point in the Elkhorn Mountains is a good day hike. Elkhorn Peak and Windy Point’s trail is more of an old road. Overall the hike does have a pretty significant elevation gain, but it is fairly short in terms of mileage. The old road has few views of the surrounding mountains. Towards the top, the woods become more open and you will eventually reach a gate. We bushwacked off to the right of the trail for a brief ~.25 miles to an exposed rocky slide. Continuing up past this slide you will see the base of Windy Point. Windy Point is exposed and it was indeed windy that day. We looked over to Elkhorn Peak and saw a couple of mountain goats. We continued onto Elkhorn Peak following a few cairns that lead you to a fairly defined trail up the exposed summit. There is a wind shelter at the top with an ammo box containing emergency materials. You can see Helena, Boulder, and surrounding mountains.