Hideout Creek

Hideout Creek is a 10,096-acre Inventoried Roadless Area on the high country of the Bighorn Mountains, on the Tongue Ranger District in Sheridan County, Wyoming. The area sits in montane and subalpine terrain immediately west of Burgess Junction, anchored by the named landmarks of Garden of the Gods and the bench of Dry Gulch. The land holds the upper headwaters of the North Tongue River and is drained by Pole Creek, Ice Creek, Bull Creek, Hideout Creek itself, Fool Creek, and Fishhook Creek, with Whedon Spring contributing baseflow to the system. These channels carry snowmelt through narrow, timbered draws into the North Tongue, which flows east toward the eastern slope canyon. Water moves through clear, cold step-pool streams shaded by spruce-fir and willow.

Plant communities follow elevation, aspect, and moisture. Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest blankets cool slopes; Rocky Mountain Dry Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest holds the high benches, with Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) closing canopy on north aspects. Central Rockies Douglas-fir Forest occupies mid-elevation slopes, and Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest fills moist draws and avalanche tracks, with quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) over an understory of sticky geranium (Geranium viscosissimum), American bistort (Bistorta bistortoides), and northern bedstraw (Galium boreale). Rocky Mountain Limber and Bristlecone Pine Woodland persists on rocky exposures. Open ground takes several forms: Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe on warm dry exposures with big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and Wyeth's lupine (Lupinus wyethii); Rocky Mountain Subalpine Meadow and Northern Rockies Subalpine Grassland on the high benches with showy green-gentian (Frasera speciosa) and beautiful paintbrush (Castilleja pulchella); Northern Rockies Foothill and Valley Grassland on the lower flats; Northern Rockies Subalpine Shrubland on transitional ground. The streamside corridors carry Rocky Mountain Subalpine Streamside Woodland and Streamside Shrubland — willow, alder, fringed grass-of-parnassus (Parnassia fimbriata), and white marsh-marigold (Caltha leptosepala). Rocky exposures hold pale alpine forget-me-not (Eritrichium argenteum), Jones' columbine (Aquilegia jonesii), and moss campion (Silene acaulis).

The wildlife community runs from the canopy down to the creeks and out to the rock fields. Moose (Alces alces) browse willow in the streamside corridors; wapiti (Cervus canadensis) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) work the meadow-forest edges; American pika (Ochotona princeps) and yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) hold the rocky terrain of Garden of the Gods. Dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) hold the conifer-meadow interface; Canada jay (Perisoreus canadensis) and hairy woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus) work the spruce-fir; broad-tailed and rufous hummingbirds and Williamson's sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus) glean the aspen edges. Black rosy-finch (Leucosticte atrata) reaches the highest exposed terrain; lazuli bunting (Passerina amoena) and green-tailed towhee (Pipilo chlorurus) hold shrub edges; sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) uses the wet meadow bottoms. Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis) hold the cold headwater streams of the North Tongue system. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A visitor crossing Dry Gulch and moving toward the Garden of the Gods rock formation passes from open sagebrush meadow into spruce-fir shade, then onto exposed ridge country where the North Tongue drainage opens below.

Hideout Creek lies in the upper North Tongue River basin of the Bighorn Mountains, in Sheridan County, Wyoming. The North Tongue cuts west from Burgess Junction, and Hideout Creek joins the river from the south through country long worked by Indigenous people and later transformed by industrial logging. "Archaeological and ethnographic investigations indicate that people have lived in the area known as the Bighorn National Forest for at least 10,000 years" [1]. "Indigenous people used the landscape for traditional cultural practices and subsistence living" [1]. The Crow held the northern Bighorns as central hunting country, and "the Crow historically hunted the Yellowstone River, the Greybull River, the mouth of Shoshone Canyon, Sunlight Basin, Powder River and areas around the Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn Mountains" [2]. "Crow trails in the northern Bighorns closely follow today's U.S. Highways 14 and 14A" [2] — the routes that flank Hideout Creek to the north and south. The Tongue River itself carries a Crow place name: "the name Tongue River comes from the Crow, who tell a story of a medicine man laying out 100 buffalo tongues on the bank of the namesake river as part of a ceremony" [2]. The Cheyenne moved through the same country: "The Cheyenne often traveled through the Clear Creek Valley in what is now eastern Sheridan County, as well as the Rosebud Creek, Otter Creek and Tongue River country" [2].

Industrial logging reshaped the upper Tongue River basin between 1893 and 1913. "The first cutting operation in the Bighorns was started in 1891 on Sheep Creek to provide 1.6 million ties for the expansion of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad" [3]. McShane and Company built a wooden flume to float ties down to the railhead at Ranchester: "It was estimated that a tie could travel 11 miles to the mouth of the Tongue River Canyon in nine minutes" [3]. The Rockwood tie camp stood "at the head of the Tongue River Box Canyon" on the "north fork of the Tongue" [4] — country immediately downstream from Hideout Creek. In spring 1905, McShane extended the flume south "to the south fork of the Tongue River, approximately 17 miles south of the original Rockwood camp, which had been abandoned after the fire," establishing a new camp called Woodrock [4]. Operations continued under the Big Horn Timber Company until "by 1913, lumber was being shipped to Sheridan by rail from Washington and Oregon, and the tie-cutting economy in the Bighorn Mountains came to an end" [4]. Over the twenty years from 1893 to 1913, the system "transported more than 2 million ties" [4]. "Evidence of past uses remains in abundant and widely scattered prehistoric structures and in tie hack flumes, fire lookouts, mining districts, and historic ranger stations and lodges" [1].

The Bighorn was placed under permanent Forest Service administration after 1905. Federal investment returned in the New Deal: "Between 1938 and 1940, the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, built roads, bridges, ranger stations, fire lookouts, reservoirs, telephone lines, campgrounds, and trails in the Bighorn National Forest" [5]. A CCC camp operated on the Tongue River in the Bighorn National Forest in 1939 [6]. The 10,096-acre Hideout Creek Inventoried Roadless Area is now on the Tongue Ranger District and is protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

• Cold Headwater Stream Integrity of the North Tongue: Hideout Creek holds the upper headwaters of the North Tongue River and is drained by Pole, Ice, Bull, Hideout, Fool, and Fishhook Creeks, with Whedon Spring adding baseflow. Rocky Mountain Subalpine Streamside Woodland and Streamside Shrubland shade the channels and stabilize banks, keeping water cold and low-sediment for Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout. The roadless condition preserves the source flows that feed the entire North Tongue drainage and ultimately the larger Tongue River.

• Continuous Lodgepole and Spruce-Fir Forest: Rocky Mountain Lodgepole Pine Forest and Rocky Mountain Dry Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest blanket the area as a contiguous high-elevation block. The unbroken canopy supports the closed-forest bird community — Canada jay, hairy woodpecker, dusky grouse — and provides the interior habitat that wide-ranging mammals require. Roadless management keeps this forest block whole.

• High-Elevation Rocky Refugia: The named landforms of Garden of the Gods, Rocky Mountain Limber and Bristlecone Pine Woodland on exposed slopes, and the alpine plant assemblages of moss campion (Silene acaulis), pale alpine forget-me-not (Eritrichium argenteum), and Jones' columbine (Aquilegia jonesii) all depend on undisturbed rocky ground. American pika and black rosy-finch use this terrain. These cold-adapted communities provide climate refugia for species moving upslope.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Sedimentation of North Tongue Headwaters: Road cut-and-fill on the steep terrain west of Burgess Junction intercepts subsurface flow and delivers chronic fine sediment to Pole, Ice, Bull, Hideout, Fool, and Fishhook Creeks through ditch lines and culvert outlets. Fine sediment fills the gravel interstices used by Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout for spawning and rearing, and undersized culverts become hydraulic barriers to fish passage. Road prisms continue to shed material for decades after construction.

• Forest Fragmentation and Edge Effects: Clearing a roadway through Lodgepole Pine and Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest replaces interior canopy with permanent edge habitat. Edges experience higher windthrow, altered microclimate, and increased predation on interior-forest birds. Wide-ranging mammals avoid road corridors and incur direct mortality at crossings, breaking the continuity of the high-elevation block that currently spans the upper North Tongue basin.

• Invasive Species Corridors and Limber Pine Disease Spread: Construction equipment, exposed cut slopes, and vehicle traffic introduce non-native plants such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) into Sagebrush Steppe and Aspen Forest understories, and spread white pine blister rust spores and mountain pine beetle vectors that threaten the area's Limber and Bristlecone Pine Woodland on rocky exposures. Once limber pine is lost from a stand, recolonization takes centuries.

Hideout Creek covers 10,096 acres on the Tongue Ranger District of the Bighorn National Forest, immediately west of Burgess Junction in Sheridan County, Wyoming. Access is from U.S. Highway 14A along the Medicine Wheel Passage Scenic Byway and from the North Tongue Campground on the Forest Service road system. No maintained trails are recorded within the polygon in the verified data, so use is dispersed cross-country travel along the named drainages — Pole Creek, Ice Creek, Bull Creek, Hideout Creek, Fool Creek, and Fishhook Creek — and onto the open benches of Dry Gulch and Garden of the Gods.

Developed camping is at the North Tongue Campground, immediately adjacent to the area; dispersed backcountry camping is possible inside the polygon under Forest Service direction. The North Tongue corridor is a popular base for short hikes, fishing, and exploration of the upper Tongue River basin.

Fishing is concentrated on the cold headwater streams. Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis) hold the upper reaches of the North Tongue River and its tributaries — Pole, Ice, Bull, Hideout, Fool, and Fishhook Creeks. These are small, cold, willow-lined waters typical of high-Bighorn headwaters; anglers should expect short-rod conditions and consult Wyoming Game and Fish Department regulations for water-specific species and limits.

Hunting takes wapiti (Cervus canadensis), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and moose (Alces alces) — moose under limited-quota tag draws — from the lodgepole-spruce-fir mosaic, willow streamside corridors, and the sagebrush-meadow openings. Wyoming Game and Fish Department hunt-area boundaries, license requirements, and season dates apply. Hunters who walk in from the surrounding road network have the country largely to themselves; the closest motorized access ends at the boundary.

Birding here is shaped by the elevation transitions and the contrast between meadow, conifer, and rocky ground. Four eBird hotspots within 24 kilometers — Bighorn NF–Sibley Lake (126 species), Burgess Junction (92 species), Shell Falls (84 species), and the Medicine Wheel area (61 species) — frame the regional species pool. Inside the area, expect Canada jay (Perisoreus canadensis) and hairy woodpecker in the conifer; dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) at the conifer-meadow interface; broad-tailed and rufous hummingbirds and Williamson's sapsucker on the aspen edges; sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) in wet meadows; lazuli bunting (Passerina amoena) and green-tailed towhee (Pipilo chlorurus) in the sage and shrub edges; black rosy-finch (Leucosticte atrata) on the highest exposed terrain; and mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides) and tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) over the meadows.

Photographers will find strong material around the rock spires of Garden of the Gods, the long sweep of Dry Gulch, the wildflower meadows in midsummer, and the willow corridors at first and last light. Snowshoeing and backcountry skiing are possible during winter; high-Bighorn snowpack is heavy and access changes when U.S. 14A is unplowed past seasonal closure.

Every activity described here depends on the roadless condition. The cold cutthroat streams, the interior-forest birding, the elk and moose habitat, and the dispersed quality of use all turn on the absence of new roads cutting across the polygon. Road construction would replace the present quiet, low-density character with the narrow corridor a vehicle can reach.