As of this July, Frannie resident Tonie Moore has summited Heart Mountain 14 times — and she completed her first climb at 69 years old, “by the grace of God,” as she likes to say.

This year’s trek was a fairly uneventful one, but in the past Moore has seen ice crystals hanging from trees, walked up the summit into the clouds and had to go off trail and climb through fallen trees. This year she enjoyed the wildflowers and many butterflies including monarchs and painted ladies.

Except for a couple of years where Moore decided to focus on family visiting from out of town, she has climbed Heart Mountain every year since she first started down the dusty trail one morning in May of 2007. Moore’s first few hikes were a Memorial Day community climb organized by Brian Peters, the manager of The Heart Mountain Nature Conservancy. Geologists and botanists would come in and give talks at the ranch house before heading to the trailhead for the hike.

This was perfect for Moore, who had always been interested in the mountain’s ever present but often changing silhouette.

“That meant I could hike with somebody, I wouldn’t be hiking totally alone. I’d be hiking alone, but not alone, because there were people there too,” Moore said. “It’s just a fascinating mountain.”

Back then, there weren’t a lot of the signs that exist now or the cabin at the trailhead, Moore said. She’s seen all of these change year-to-year as she’s taken her grandchildren and children up the trail with her. 

Eventually, the annual climb moved to the first Saturday in June — coincidentally this was often on June 2, Moore’s birthday.

It’s a gift from fate for someone so fascinated by one of the Big Horn Basin’s most iconic mountains.

“I’m an artist too and I was thinking of making a coloring book of the different shapes of the mountain … I would call it ‘The Many Unique Faces of Heart Mountain,’” she said.

The way that the angle can change the appearance of the mountain so drastically has taken hold of Moore’s imagination.

This year, Moore didn’t get to hike Heart Mountain as the birthday girl, as a rainy June prevented ideal conditions. However, she persisted in checking the trail conditions ahead of each rescheduled date, until she settled on an early July hike.

“The reason I do these climbs is by the grace of God, to the glory of God, because at my age, not everybody can climb Heart Mountain,” Moore said. “I want to climb it as many times as I can. I’d like to get 20 climbs in but I don’t know about getting 20.”