Beartooth Wilderness info

[GeezerSteve]

The Wife and I are headed to the Beartooth Wilderness in a few days for a week+ of off-trail hiking, scrambling and high lakes fishing. We will likely go in from near Cooke City/Coulter Pass. We are experienced mountaineers and high routers. We know about the afternoon T-storms.

Questions: Current conditions? Should we take ice axes? Hard hats? Hand line? Any favorite locations? Fishing tips?

Thanks

[BFD]

Have fun, skied Pahaska to East Rosebud with my son this winter. Was very impressed with the area. We did some easy scrambling and he skied a fairly long couloir on Dewey in terrible conditions. There was this TR http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...-Birthday-Bash
Appeared to me you could make the mountaineering as complex as you wanted.

[brutah]

i was in east rosebud this past weekend. We were there to climb so didn't wander up past the bear's face (about five miles up from the TH) but from what I could see there was very little snow left.

I'd probably leave the ice axes. on the beartooth wilderness outdoor rec map, all the lakes were marked with what types of fish could be found in em. there are endless climbing possibilities in those there hills. glacier grooved granite rocks.

[Norseman]

Wonderful zone, Steve.. you'll dig. I've spent a fair amount of time in the range. The high trailheads at Beartooth Lk and Island Lk are faves, with good plateau cruising and lots of fishy water. The big ramps of Spirit and Sky Pilot would make good side jaunts. A hitchhiking loop from Cooke to Island would be sweet.

A little less snow now than usual... axes and helmets prob just extra bulk.

PM Aenigma for fishing beta.
PM me for more fave spots/lakes if you're still in need.

[GeezerSteve]

Thanks all. Norseman, I might PM you. I'm pondering two 4-day trips, one to Aero/Rough/Fossil/Fizzle via Goose Lake Road access, the other via Beartooth Lake/Island Lake THs with short hitch hike. That would allow us to see two different areas on our first visit to the area (and carry less food) and size up the area for a longer cross-country traverse in a future year.

We have Marcuson's book re fishing.

[lifelinksplit]

Sounds like you have good advice. Island lake th is a great gateway. Cough , cloverleaf, cough. So many options. Alpine off trail travel is pretty awesome up there. Goes without saying but be bear aware. Oh and the beaten path is worth it but can be crowded, we did it over labor day though and only saw one other person but did get snowed on pretty good the last day. Speaking of, they shut down the beartooth highway yesterday cause of snow, gotta love July in Montana

[GeezerSteve]

Thanks for the info. We had a great trip, well, actually, two 4-day trips. #1 trip: Lady of the Lake TH to Lower Aero, then off-trail to Skytop, Rough, Lone Elk, then down new Sky Top Creek trail, then off-trail to Sliver (Splinter)/Peanut/Cliff then XC travel back to ingress trail via XC travel over Broadwater/LOL divide. #2 trip from Beartooth TH > Native > North Hidden (Marmot) then off-trail to Cloverleaf Lakes > Golden/Jasper > trodden Albino > Lonesome Lake > T/Mutt/Jeff/etc and out via Beauty.

Great trip. 6 camps, 5 fish dinners. Lots of off-trail travel options, mostly mellow, some scrambly, no treads or cairns in spots I'd expect to see them. Seems that 95%+ of people stay on trails. Got hammered by a thunder/snow storm at camp at Cloverleaf.

Will get back there again.

[Norseman]

Word. Glad you enjoyed the trip.