Little known compared to the great hiking meccas of Glacier, Yosemite, and Grand Teton, the Beartooth Mountains are an obscure gem just to the north of Yellowstone National Park.  Located primarily just north of the Wyoming border in southern Montana, the Beartooths are an incredible place to go hiking, but hardly anyone knows about them!

With places like Yosemite, the challenge can often be an information overdose; there is so much information written about Yosemite that it becomes difficult to even know what you want to do!  The opposite is the case with the Beartooths.  There is much less information online about the Beartooths, and a lot of the information that is out there is scattered and hard to piece together!

Adding to the challenge of planning a trip to the Beartooths is the numerous different designations trails fall under.  For example, when searching for hikes (especially on Alltrails), trails are organized into national forests, national parks, wilderness areas, state parks, and more.  If you don’t search for the right thing, you won’t even find the trails you’re looking for!

When searching for good hikes in the Beartooths, this problem is especially conspicuous.  If you look at the Beartooths on Google Maps, the listed national forest in the area is Custer Gallatin.  However, if you search for Custer Gallatin hikes, you won’t find trails in the Beartooths!  Instead, you have to search specifically for Custer National Forest, and even then, some are located within the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, which complicates things even more because those are also listed separately!

Always be sure to follow the 7 Leave No Trace Principles when in the outdoors!

Long story short, let us help you find the best trails in the Beartooth Mountains!  While we fully admit this is not a comprehensive list of all the awesome hikes in the Beartooths, and doesn’t include any long distance backpacking routes or short walks, we think this list can at least provide a starting point!  We hope after you read this article, you’ll be inspired to travel to the Beartooths, and when you get there you’ll have a list of trails you want to hike!

All of the trails on this list are at least moderate hikes.  These are not easy hikes.  You will definitely sweat on all of these, and if you are not in very good shape, you may not be able to do them all.  For people in good to great shape, these are the best, most rewarding, most exciting trails there are to do in the Beartooth Mountains!

1.) Quinnebaugh Meadows and Sundance Lake

This is grizzly country so make sure you are bear safe!

15.4 miles

1,985 feet vertical gain

Located just a few minutes outside Red Lodge Montana, the hike to Quinnebaugh Meadows is the best hike in the Beartooths!  Starting in the bottom of a valley along the West Fork of Rock Creek, this trail follows the creek upwards through the valley until finally emerging at the meadows themselves.

Following the trail further, you will eventually reach Sundance Lake, and eventually Sundance Pass.  The trail itself doesn’t actually reach Sundance Lake, it passes high above it, but you can catch glimpses of it from above, or hike down to it!

The best part of this hike is the meadows themselves!  Vivid green grass, strikingly blue water, and rocky alpine ridges provide incredible views at the meadows, probably my favorite in all the Beartooths!  All in all, this is a fantastic hike, and it’s not even that difficult!  

2.) Glacier Lake

Always follow basic trail etiquette when on trail!

4.6 miles

1,492 feet vertical gain

The shortest hike on this list, the trail to Glacier Lake is definitely not short on views!  Located deep in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, the trip to the trailhead will take you far along a forest road deep into the mountains, but once there, the lake is only a couple miles further!

Glacier Lake itself is located high in the alpine.  Surrounded by soaring peaks and rugged scree fields, Glacier Lake is a pretty incredible final destination!  If what you want are brutal, rocky, alpine views, then this is the hike for you!  Though be warned, the 1,500 feet or so doesn’t sound like much, but over only a couple miles, this is a steep one!

3.) Elk Lake and Rimrock Lake

Interested in the Beartooths?  Make sure you think about Yellowstone National Park too!

12.3 miles

2,125 feet vertical gain

The trail to Elk Lake and Rimrock Lake is located on the northern edge of the Beartooth Range.  Accessed by a long, lonely road, alternating between pavement and gravel, you’ll definitely feel the remoteness here!

Starting at the community of Alpine along the banks of East Rosebud Lake, this trail takes you up a magnificent valley to a pair of alpine lakes, Elk first, Rimrock second.  Multiple cascading waterfalls accompany you on the way up, and set the soundtrack for your hike!  

Elk Lake is beautiful, and the 6 or 7 mile round trip hike to Elk Lake would be a fantastic day hike in itself, but for the full experience, you’ve got to continue up to Rimrock!  The trail enters the upper part of the canyon beyond Elk Lake where the forest gives way to rocky boulder fields, and then finally crests the final knoll before Rimrock Lake!  

Definitely check this trail out if you want something remote, and can get to the northern edge of the Beartooths!

4.) Black Canyon Lake

14.8 miles

2,178 feet vertical gain

If you want a stunning alpine lake, there aren’t many on the planet better than Black Canyon Lake!  It’s glacially fed waters are a stunning bright blue which looks even more magnificent at the base of the soaring peaks and walls in the background!

Black Canyon Lake is a destination that makes you work for it!  Not only is the lake reached by a 15 mile round trip hike, the final 2 miles or so to the lake are all basically off trail!  All you’ll have is a faint use trail that fades in and out!  While you’re struggling to stay on track, you’ll be climbing over fallen trees, dodging branches, and trudging through overgrown everything!

While the trail reaching the lake isn’t the best, it is definitely worth the effort!  The only reason I don’t have this trail at the very top is the difficult access to the lake, but Black Canyon Lake itself is legitimately amazing!

5.) Sylvan Lake

Make sure you visit Glacier National Park if you are visiting Montana!

12.1 miles

3,910 feet vertical gain

Starting from the small community of Alpine, same as the trails to Rimrock Lake and Phantom Lake, the trail to Sylvan Lake takes off in a different direction than the path towards Elk and Rimrock Lakes, but still gets you some fantastic views!

However, while the hike to Elk and Rimrock Lakes is pretty moderate, this one is a real leg burner!  In the first 4.5 miles or so, you’ll gain about 3,000 feet of elevation, not unmanageable, but certainly not easy!  If your legs can take it, this trail leads to the stunning Sylvan Lake, set near the base of nearly 12,000 foot Sylvan Peak.  

This one makes you work for it, but if you can do it, the payoff is an awesome, and seldom visited, alpine lake!

6.) Mystic Lake and Island Lake

10.5 miles

2,073 feet vertical gain

Located on the north side of the Beartooths, but even more remote than the trailheads at Alpine, the trail towards Mystic Lake and Island Lake takes you deep into the wilderness of the Beartooth Mountains!  Used to access some serious mountaineering objectives like Montana state highpoint Granite Peak, this hike gets you into some serious country!

One of the great things about this hike is its ability to be adapted!  Want something more?  Then continue on to one of the many even more remote alpine lakes, or take on an alpine objective, maybe even Granite Peak itself!  However, even if you don’t extend this hike, the 10 mile trip is worthwhile too!

7.) West Fork to Lake Mary

11.8 miles

2,276 feet vertical gain

Leaving from the same trailhead and following much of the same trail as the hike to Quinnebaugh Meadows, the hike to Lake Mary shares a lot with the best hike in the Beartooths!  That must mean there’s some good stuff here!

Instead of continuing along the creek running through the meadows, the trail to Lake Mary branches off to the right to ascend to Lake Mary.  A full combination hike of Quinnebaugh Meadows and Lake Mary (or some other lake) would top this list, but in my opinion, the distal portion of the meadows is more photogenic than Lake Mary!

8.) Lower Lake Fork Trail to September Morn Lake

13.9 miles

2,575 feet vertical gain

Continuing past the turn off to Black Canyon Lake, the Lower Lake Fork Trail to September Morn Lake runs through a bucolic mountain valley following the raging Lake Fork of Rock Creek.  Eventually, this trail climbs out and away from the valley floor towards September Morn Lake giving great views back over the valley as well as the lake itself.

While the views once the trail climbs are great, most of this hike is along a forested hiking highway, which doesn’t always provide much for views.  While it’s not unpleasant, it’s not spectacular either!  The hike to Black Canyon Lake follows much of the same trail, but has a phenomenal final destination!

9.) Phantom Creek Trail #17

9.7 miles

3,366 feet vertical gain

Leaving from the community of Alpine in the northern part of the mountains, this trail follows Phantom Creek to the remote Phantom Lake.  This hike ain’t easy, but if you can handle the more than 3,000 feet of climbing, the payoff is a remote and rarely visited Phantom Lake!

10.) Timberline and Gertrude Lakes

9.8 miles

2,086 feet vertical gain

Not far from the town of Red Lodge, the trail to Timberline and Gertrude Lakes climbs away from the West Fork of Rock Creek to a pair of alpine lakes.  Starting in an extensive burn scar, the first 2/3rds of this hike isn’t especially scenic, but the payoff at Timberline Lake makes it worthwhile!

Silver Run Peak and it’s nearly sheer east face towers over the surprisingly large Timberline Lake.  The view here is pretty fantastic, and while much of the trail isn’t super special, the final destination is worth your time.

Roadtripping to the Beartooths?  Check out all of our road trip planning tips!

Did we leave some incredible hikes off of this list?  Definitely.  Could we argue about the order of this list all day?  Also definitely.  But I think that shows the true quality of the Beartooths.  

If you haven’t been to the Beartooths, go.  There are tons of amazing hikes, not to mention the rock climbing, the rafting, the swimming, the mountaineering, the backpacking, or whatever else you find to do!  We hope this list helped as a starting point for your trip, and if you have anything you think we missed out on, definitely let us know!