#5 of 18 sights in Beartooth Highway
Sight · Beartooth Highway
Launch, picnic, or take in Beartooth Butte across the lake.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Beartooth Highway Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Beartooth Highway. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Beartooth Highway audio tourRecorded for this place
Beartooth Lake“You're coming up on the turnoff for Beartooth Lake, a good place for a picnic or an easy lakeside break. A short gravel spur reaches the boat ramp and day-use shore, with Beartooth Butte rising across the water.”
Plays as you drive up to Beartooth Lake in the Parkwolf Beartooth Highway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Beartooth Lake is an alpine lake on the Beartooth Highway, below Beartooth Butte in Wyoming. A short gravel spur reaches the boat ramp and day-use shore. Stop for a picnic, an easy lakeside wander, or time on the water. This is a low-key water stop rather than a summit hike or a big roadside overlook.
The lake is used for both motorized and nonmotorized boating, fishing, and day hikes. Visitors describe launching kayaks and small boats from the ramp. If you are only stopping for a few minutes, the shore is an easy place to pause; picnic tables make it practical to stay longer.
The view across the lake toward Beartooth Butte is the reason to take a moment at the shore. For a photo, keep some water in the foreground and let the butte and its tree-covered slope fill the far side of the frame. This is a lake-and-landform view, not a viewpoint that requires a separate hike.
Beartooth Butte sits in a much older story than the lake view suggests. Around the butte, 560-million-year-old Cambrian sedimentary rocks lie above crystalline rocks about 2.8 billion years old. Nearby layers preserve some of the oldest known Devonian fish and land-plant fossils. Those fossils are part of the broader Beartooth geology, not something to look for on the lakeshore.
Wildlife
42 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
22 sightingsGray WolfMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
49 sightingsBisonMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
122 sightingsMooseMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
260 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
16 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Beartooth Highway. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModerateBeartooth Lakes Loop7.8 mi · 4 hr · 0.3 mi awayA six-lake loop over high ridges and wildflower meadows.
ModerateNative Lake Trail7.9 mi · 4 hr · 0.3 mi awayA high alpine lake reached after meadows and 1,300 feet of climbing.
ModerateBeauty Lake Trail #6214.6 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.3 mi awayA steady high-country climb leads to a reflective lake.
ModerateClay Butte Trail #6143 mi · 1.8 hr · 2.1 mi awayOpen meadow, high-country creeks and a junction with Trail #620.
ModerateGranite Lake Trail via Clay Butte10 mi · 6.5 hr · 2.1 mi awayA 10-mile out-and-back to a 228-acre high-country lake.
ChallengingHigh Beartooths Lakes Loop22 mi · 12 hr · 2.1 mi awayA full-day circuit linking alpine lakes above 8,700 feet.
ModerateIsland Lake to Beartooth Lake Trail5.5 mi · 3.5 hr · 2.5 mi awayFive alpine miles, ten lakes and a shuttle between trailheads.ModerateBeartooth High Lakes Trail8.9 mi · 5.5 hr · 2.6 mi awayNine miles of alpine lakes, granite benches and big plateau views
Campground · 0.2 mi awayBeartooth Lake CampgroundA lakefront base for fishing, boating and nearby high-country hikes.
Sight · 0.8 mi awayBeartooth FallsA quick roadside look at the Beartooth Highway waterfall
Store · 1.6 mi awayTop of the World Store and ResortA 9,400-foot store and lodge midway along the pass drive.
Sight · 1.7 mi awayClay Butte LookoutA historic fire tower with a 360-degree Beartooth panorama.
Scenic pullout · 2.5 mi awayPilot and Index Peaks OverlookTwo sharp peaks crown the Clark’s Fork valley view.Sight · 2.5 mi awayIsland LakeA high-country lake with boat access and hikes to nearby lakes.Campground · 2.7 mi awayIsland Lake CampgroundA simple high-country camp for lake views and nearby hikes.Parkwolf’s Beartooth Highway ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
