Beartooth Mts TR

“I am finally writing my trip report for my week long trip in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana last August. What a trip it was! Here goes..

Arrived in Billings earlier than expected Friday morning. Nothing was open to get last minute supplies. Headed to the trailhead. Got to the TH after an awesome drive up the Beartooth Highway and got a little worried when parking was almost nonexistent. LOTS of cars. I had heard from different places that this was a fairly secluded area to hike and I was now worried. The Clay Butte TH was at about 9000 feet and the hike in was downhill for the first few miles, what a wonderful change from the norm. Got even more worried about solitude when I saw two big groups coming out and one going in after only the first 3 miles. Hit the first big hump and this flatlander was gasping. Not a big deal aclimatization will catch up to me by the hike out. Since I travel at about 1 to 1.5 Nimblefoot we got passed by two more groups heading in to the same area we were going. Stopped for the night next to Thiel Lake just North of the Montana border and settled in. Spoke to a camp next to ours and asked them about fishing and they told us about a small lake off the trail that we should check out.

Saturday
Headed up the ridge trail to the high valley that cuts across the highest parts of the Beartooths toward Whitcomb Lake Basin. At the top of the trail we got off trail and crested a hill to the lake we were told about. Not a soul in sight and this was a really large alpine lake, absolutely beautiful! We decided to camp there and stay for a few days to see if we could catch some fish. It wasn't easy finding a camping spot and when we did I pitched my tent next to a huge rock. Halfway through the process I noticed that I was pushing tent stakes into a very large animal bed at the base of the rock. It was moose or bear sized and I hoped whoever had spent the night there didn't come back. The fishing was great we caught alot of big brookies and explored the lake. There were absolutely no fires allowed in the wilderness area and since I am a stickler for the rules I kept my cook fire pretty small and smokeless that night to cook a few trout. About the time supper ended a forest service plane started flying search patterns over the valleys and I put two and two together that they were looking for fires. We quickly doused our fire and watched the plane circle our camp, they flew on to the next valley and dove on a camp, sirens wailing. Sirens on an airplane, go figure. Makes for an interesting traffic stop I suppose.

Sunday
Woke to a sunrise that only happens in the high country. The sun was rising over the rim of the lake basin and bouncing off the crystal clear water in a way that just brings a tear to your eye it is so beautiful. Spent the rest of the day exploring the lake and relaxing.

Monday
We just couldn't leave Marmot Lake. Occasionally one of us would go up on top of the ridge over the lake and check out the trails and almost every time there were people on them. This is definately not a place to go if you are looking for solitude! More fishing, but all catch and release, I would hate to be strafed by a water cannon armed spotter plane.

Tuesday
Woke up to find a nice pile of brown golf balls outside my tent. Moose are so damn sneaky. Today was the same as the rest except for the huge clouds of smoke that started building in the West. We figured Yellowstone was on fire. More airplanes in the air today checking campsites. Due to the activity we decided to head out the next day and camp one more night on the way out.

Wednesday
Packed up camp at Marmot Lake and headed to the trail. Another beautiful day so we decided to cache our packs and head up the trail to Whitcomb Lake basin to check out the 90 foot falls between Whitcomb and Spogen. On the way there we ran into a pack of ladies and their Llamas, another group that was headed in that direction consisting of 11 people passed us while we were talking to the Llama Ladies. Took their picture with Granite Lake far below and scared the crap out of one of them when I climbed a tree with her 1500 dollar camera rig to get a better shot of her group. Finally made it to the bluff that overlooks the basin. Decided not to go in due to all the people. When we were up top taking pics a family on the shores of Whitcomb were enjoying the solitude by letting their kids, all below the age of ten, to have a screaming contest.... Left the basin and headed to our packs. Took the trail past Thiel Lake to Granite Lake, headed up the NE side of Granite with the intent of camping on the north shore. The terrain got really steep and rocky, good trail but slippery with rocks. Fell once, no big deal. Got to the north end of the lake and was resting when I saw a person walking along our trail, rather quickly. When the person was about to pass us by I said, "Hey, how ya doin"? She looked up, screamed and said "PEOPLE"!!!!! We had found a lost hiker. Yay us... She had been lost for two days and found our tracks when we turned onto the Granite Lake Loop from the Thiel Lake trail. I was happy we found her till she started talking about her adventure. She had hit the trailhead with a group she met at the TH 3 days prior with the intent of doing an overnioght trip. They hiked up to Granite Lake and around the west side of the lake and her camped near where the trail split from the lake loop trail to the backcountry trail. The next morning she bade farewell to her companions and they headed off to the backcountry. She hiked around the lake and proceeded down the east side. After walking for about 6 miles she became disoriented and didn't know if she was on the right trail. This led her to complain about the crappy forest service and their poor signage for trails. She decided to head back the way she had come and she camped for the night(Tuesday night). Wednesday found her more disoriented and taking wrong trails. She finally stumbled upon our camp. She was out of food and I told her she could eat as much as she wanted from my pack since the more she ate the less I had to carry. She ate two meals of Enertia foods. I can only ever eat one, she was hungry. Before it got dark, after she had stopped calling the forest service many foul names, she showed me her "map". Imagine if you will a scrap of paper with an oval drawn on it with a tail off the bottom of the oval. It looked like a computer ouse with cord. I looked at it, looked at her and couldn't help thinking about how I will read about her dying in the woods somewhere someday. Then she said words that my coworkers have learned never to use with me, she said, "Be honest, do you think I was stupid for coming here with only this for a map? What do you use?" I let her have it. I pointed out my GPS, my buddy's GPS, my topo maps, his topo maps, my compasses and his compass. He likes to pack light so he only brings one compass. I told her about the aerial photos on my computer and all the planning that goes into even the simplest trips. I asked her who she had left her itinerary with and all I got was a blank stare. I started asking her where she turned around when she was heading for her car. She was about a mile from her car when she turned around. After Matt went down to the lake with her to get water he said she had the same filter he did. His filter is a Katadyne Hiker. He has to clean his filter every few days to keep water flowing fast, as we all do. While pumping water she was asking him why his filter was taking so long and he told her that he hadn't cleaned it since Tuesday and was just getting water for the trip out and would clean it when he got home. She had pumped about 3 Liters of water to his one and said she had never cleaned her filter in 2 years and it was still pumping fast. Matt figures she didn't even have a filter in the unit but we didn't say anything. We discussed our route for leaving the next day and hit the sack.

Thursday
Got up and packed everything away, the lost hiker ate two more meals and I dumped out the last quarter of mine, I was full. Headed out of the mountains, always a bummer. Will have to remember never to let a person who is found lost in the woods lead the expedition out. Granted we knew the trail and knew exactly where we were going, but hearing her say 5 miles in to an 8 mile hike that she thinks the TH is just around the next bend or over the next ridge gotr old really fast. The only good thing about saving her is that we hiked to a lower TH and she gave my hiking buddy Matt a ride up to our vehicle. Headed to Billings for our after adventure steak dinner and headed back to Wisconsin.

All in all the trip was great. Lots of people but we were able to find out of the way places to camp and relax. I would recommend it to anyone.”

“Thanks for the TR.
That's a nice area up there”

“enjoyed reading your TR...I love that area...have any adventures with marmots?”

“I was kinda surprised Mata, I never saw or heard a single marmot. I usuall hike in Colorado and see them all the time but I didn't see any or hear any on this trip. All the people probably scared them away.”

“Gotta love the Beartooth Mountains...

I took my family there a few years ago duirng the summer and everyone enjoyed the cool air and the views.

Thanks for the trip report!”