Montana Beartooth Mountains trip

[Bobo Uzala]

Dang grizzled, sounds like my kinda place! Any chance you have a room for rent?

[glacierrambler]

Fantastic. I got my first taste of the Beartooths last summer, but a nearby fire kept us from staying more than one night. That's okay--our back up turned out to be Yellowstone and one of my favorite trips from the summer. That said, I really can't wait to get down to the Beartooths again.

Thanks for a fantastic trip report. It's got me inspired.

[Jawom]

Great report and photos. I need to go there. Looks like very few other people in area. Is it usual to have so few people? Makes for a better experience then at Glacier, Yellowstone or Yosemite.

[grizzled]

Great report and photos. I need to go there. Looks like very few other people in area. Is it usual to have so few people? Makes for a better experience then at Glacier, Yellowstone or Yosemite.

You will find people on the "official" FS trails and to a lesser degree on the "unofficial" trails, but once off of those you are more or less on your own. If one is interested in visiting the area, I would recommend Beartooth Publishing's 1:50,000 map (www.beartoothpublishing.com). It's actually pretty accurate on trails, mileage, and fish species. I bought my copy at REI about 5 years ago. A lot less bulky than USGS maps and has a lot of info not in the GPS files. However, it absolutely doesn't replace the GPS.

[WanderAR]

Great trip report! Loved all the photos!

[John B]

What beautiful pictures! I had a flashback to my climb of Granite peak in 2009!

[grizzled]

Old scanned photo:

Taken 1981 from the summit of Summit Mountain, this photo sort-of covers about 1/3 of this loop. Dewey Lake is in foreground with Medicine Lake above it, Oly Lake is at middle far left, some of Cairn Lake is visible above Medicine. And you can even see a little of Lower Skytop Lake at the upper far left. Flat-topped Granite Peak right of center with Tempest Mountain to right, the hump of Cairn Mountain to left of Granite. To the left of Cairn, a little of Mystic Mountain in the background with Mount Villard and the Spires to left. Glacier Peak at far left. All 12,000' plus.