This was a truly outstanding trip to the south-central area of Montana. The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Area resides just north of the Wyoming border above Yellowstone National Park. It's about a 2 hour car ride from Billings, Montana to get to this area. This is my most popular page for some reason and I get a lot of emails with questions about hiking in Beartooth. Even though it's been a couple of years, it still seems like yesterday that I was there. Please don't hesitate to email me about this trip.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Jeff and I spent just over a week backpacking the southern trails in Absaroka-Beartooth. Our first outing was the hike up to Fossil Lake (9900 elevation) from the south trail off Beartooth Highway. This is where the photo to the left was taken. Our first night, we camped near Russell Lake and resumed our hike to Fossil the following day.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Once arriving, we spent a day exploring around Fossil Lake and climbing hilltops above 10,000ft. The views were just outstanding in this alpine country of Absaroka-Beartooth. Near the lake, Jeff actually hand-caught some cutthroat trout while I attempted this feat but came up empty. The photo at the very top is of Windy Lake very close to where we set up camp.After 2 nights on a wonderful, out-of-site ridge, we hiked out the entire way back to the trailhead. The third photo below is of our campsite on the ridge.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The first two pictures directly above (including the two of Jeff & I next to the sign near the top of this page) were taken during the hike in towards Fossil Lake entering Absaroka-Beartooth. This was roughly a 2000ft below the elevation at the lake. At this time, our bodies still had not acclimated to the high elevation. It wasn't until the return out that we finally adjusted to the elevation. The scenery on this trail was amazing as we hiked along ridges and next to rushing whitewater. It's unfortunate that these pictures cannot begin to capture the beauty of this area.
The next four photos were taken during our dayhike to Fossil Lake in Beartooth. The snowbanks we encountered were just incredible! (See if you can spot Jeff standing above the snowbank in the 5th photo above) The last photo above is Fossil Lake. Although we took 2 days to get up near Fossil, we easily hiked down the entire trail in one day, most of which was during a sporadic rainstorm. There was notable difference in temperature between the 8000ft and 10,000ft elevations since we encountered many snow patches around the ridges of Fossil Lake.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
In the first three photos above, we were hiking on a ridge with a terrific view of the range on the other side of the crashing stream below that connects Skull Lake and Bald Knob Lake in Beartooth. The serene picture that follows (the 4th above) was taken on the way out from Fossil Lake; the lake in the photo is of Kersey Lake.
This final three photos were taken while we explored around Lower Aero Lake during our final outing in the Gallatin National Forest in Absaroka. Lower Aero sits at 10,000ft elevation and just below the highest peak in Montana, Granite Peak at 12,799ft. This was outstanding day spent hiking the ridges and taking in the incredible vistas of the Beartooth Mountains. We had great views of Mt Wilse, Glacier Peak, Mt Villard, Granite and Tempest Mt.
Although we camped near Zimmer Creek at 9000ft, it mainly rained at that point. But when we hiked around Lower Aero Lake, we were pelted with snow. Despite this occasional inclement conditions, overall, the weather was great. We really couldn't have asked for more on our first visit to Montana.
These photos are the only ones I have scanned but I expect to have several more photos up that will give an even better depiction of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness and the overwhelming beauty of Big Sky Country. Yet nothing shown here can compete with actually being there and witnessing it with your own eyes. The vistas in Montana are something to behold.
If you have any general or specific questions regarding this trip, feel free to email me.
 |
 |
|
| Quetico Provincal Park | Clifty Wilderness Revisited | Absaroka/Beartooth | Sleestakk the Iguana | |