Chapter 1: Backpacking in the Beartooth Wilderness, Part 1

Unfortunately, 2003 was a bad year for forest fires in Montana. The night before we were to leave for Montana, we called the Forest Service District offices in Montana and learned that there were large area closures due to fires in the Lake Plateau area where we were planning to go. After several more phone calls that night, the Forest Service rangers recommended another area in the Beartooths called the East Rosebud Trail (aka: The Beaten Path) It was a 26 mile long end to end trail that started at the East Rosebud Lake near Roscoe and traveled up a valley past several lakes to a high alpine area. Then the trail descended back down another valley to another trail head near Cooke City. Since it was about 100 miles by car between the two trail heads and we only had one rental car, we decided we'd hike in halfway, then turn around and hike back out the way we came in. Changing our backpack trip last minute that evening, meant that we had to change some of our motel reservations also. Luckily the time zone difference between Montana and Maryland worked in our favor and we were able to do our last minute trip replanning till late in the night.

The next day we flew from BWI to Bozeman, arriving around 11pm. The next morning after a short detour to an outfitting store in Bozeman for a 'Gaz' canister for our backpacking stove we drove off to the trail head. We stopped off for lunch at the "Grizzly Bar" in Roscoe. The Rangers had told us it was a great place for steaks and they were right.

We finally arrived at the trailhead at East Rosebud Lake around 1pm, a little later than I had hoped, but we still had several hours of good daylight ahead of us. East Rosebud Lake looked like it was a favorite destination for fishermen. There were quite a few nice, small cabins dotted around the shoreline. Several of them were available as vacation rentals. The beginning of the trail lead us up a narrow valley along side the East Rosebud Creek thru an area of forest that had been destroyed by a forest fire back in 1995. The trees were just beginning to grow back. With little to no trees, we were out in the sun a lot. Fortunately, the upward grade was very gentle and the air temperature was not too hot.

Here we are arriving at East Rosebud Lake. The shoreline is dotted with small vacation cabins. The trailhead is further ahead off to the left.

The trail followed the east (right-hand) side of the lake passing thru a wooded area that had burned back in 1995.

After just 3 miles we were at Elk Lake, our first lake. There were quite a few nice campsites in the woods surrounding the northern end of the lake. So far the trail had been easy, but about 2 miles beyond Elk Lake the trail entered a narrow rocky gorge and started a long series of switchbacks up through an old rock slide. Someone years ago had done a great job at building the trail. As rocky as the surrounding area was, the trail tread was nice and clear and the grade was fairly gentle on my heart and lungs. The notch at the top of the gorge formed a natural dam that created the second lake in the series, Rimrock Lake. We were now 6 miles from the trailhead. We followed the trail around the shoreline looking for a suitable camping site. We had been hoping to make it to the third lake (Rainbow Lake, one mile father) but our feet were sore and our legs were tired. Campsites at Rimrock Lake were very limited. There was a group of 4 teens camped at the best spot near the middle of the lake so we continued on to the southern end. Just before the trail left the lake and entered the woods again we found the remains of an old site up on top of a 100 foot cliff overlooking the lake. On the opposite shore was East Rosebud Creek cascading down a rocky gorge into the lake.

In the shot above, Diane is leading us up the steepest, rockiest part of the trail just before Rimrock Lake.
Above: Here we are at Rimrock Lake. You can see the trail following the right hand shoreline. There's a nice strong wooden bridge crossing the creek out of sight to the lower right in the photo. Right: This was our campsite above Rimrock Lake with East Rosebud Creek cascading down the hillside in the background.

The next morning we got an early start and quickly covered the remaining mile to Rainbow Lake. Rainbow was a much larger lake with loads of campsites at the southwestern end. If you wanted more privacy you could head east around the southern end, cross two large feeder streams and find a large flat peninsula that jutted out into the lake that appeared to offer nice camping areas. We regretted not having pushed on a little more last night to make it here for camp, but there was just no way I would have made that last mile. After a brief stop and snack, we pressed on towards the fourth lake in the series.

The trail follows the western shoreline of Rainbow Lake. At the far end of the lake are many campsites.

After leaving Rainbow Lake it was another 2 miles of uphill switchbacks thru the woods to lake number 4, Lake at Falls shown to the right. The lake is named for the two dramatic waterfalls that cascade down from Martin Lake hidden from view way up in the surrounding mountains to the south (left side of photo). There were no real suitable places for camping at the lake.

Continuing on from Lake at Falls we got a 1 mile respite from climbing. The trail was a nice easy flat walk past Big Park Lake (lake number 5). It isn't really very big at all, it's actually more of a large shallow pond surrounded by woods. Someday it will probably fill in with sediment and become a grassy meadow. From there we crossed Granite Creek on a nice new timber bridge and then entered another series of switchbacks up thru the woods. From Lake at Falls it was 2.8 miles to the sixth lake, Duggan Lake. It was a small lake with a large dramatic 100 foot waterfall called Impasse Falls. From the lake it's 0.2 miles of switchbacks up to the tippy top of the waterfalls for a great view of Duggan Lake below.

From Duggan it was another mile to Twin Outlets Lake. Twin Outlets was difficult to see in its entirety. It seemed like it was an interconnected collection of several small ponds. The most important aspect of Twin Outlets Lake was that it meant that we only had 1.2 more miles of uphill to Dewey Lake, our destination for the day! Woo-hoo!

Dewey Lake was gorgeous. The fact that it meant that we were done for the day and I could take my heavy pack off made the lake even more gorgeous. It was a good size, rimmed by tall mountains to the southeast. There was a large group of fishermen camped along the northeast shore so we proceeded around to the western shore where we found a plethora of fine campsites with lake views. We had hiked 8 miles today, all uphill. We quickly set up our tent and then relaxed with a supper fit for a king and his queen. We were planning on staying here for the next three nights and going on day hikes for the next two days before we left to go back down to the trailhead.

A panoramic shot of Dewey Lake looking northward.