Picnic area · Beartooth Highway
A riverside pause with a little highway and flume history.
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
Clarks Fork Picnic Area“You're coming up on Clarks Fork Picnic Area, a small riverside stop with two picnic tables. This is a good choice for a lunch break with a little more to see than the river.”
Plays as you drive up to Clarks Fork Picnic Area 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
Clarks Fork Picnic Area is a small day-use stop beside the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone, four miles east of Cooke City on US 212. Two picnic tables sit by the river, with open parking. It's a good place to stop for lunch and stretch your legs before carrying on over the highway. This site is for day use only, so don't treat nearby camping references as proof you can stay overnight here.
A short wooden walkway and bridge follow the water. Take a few minutes with the interpretive panels: they cover the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness and the highway, then turn to the local water flume, the electric story and a panel called “The River Runs Dry.” That gives this small stop a bit more to it than a table beside the road.
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
ModerateRock Island Lake Trail6.8 mi · 3.5 hr · At the trailheadMarsh bridges, a Kersey overlook, and a high alpine lake.
ModerateWidewater Lake Trail11.6 mi · 6.5 hr · At the trailheadA long walk at 8,000 feet to a large trout lake.
ChallengingMariane Lake Trail16.6 mi · 9.5 hr · At the trailheadLong, high backcountry miles lead to a rocky alpine lake.
ChallengingOtter Lake Trail18 mi · 11.5 hr · At the trailheadA long high country walk to a remote trout lake.
ModerateVernon Lake Trail5.4 mi · 2.8 hr · At the trailheadA lake payoff after one muddy, buggy mile at Clarks Fork.
ChallengingRussell Creek Trail20 mi · 12 hr · At the trailheadA full-day high-country climb to Fossil Lake and back.
ModerateFox Lake Trail9 mi · 5 hr · At the trailheadA high-country trout lake rewards the long walk from the highway.
EasyKersey Lake Trail3 mi · 1.3 hr · 0.1 mi awayAn easy three-mile return to a trout lake on the Beaten Path
Campground · 1.4 mi awayColter CampgroundA hard-sided-only campground two miles east of Cooke City.
Campground · 2.3 mi awaySoda Butte CampgroundA quiet, wooded base near Cooke City and Yellowstone’s northeast entrance.
Store · 3.2 mi awayCooke City StoreA working mercantile still uses its hand-crank cash register.
Visitor center · 3.3 mi awayCooke City Visitor Center and MuseumNine touchscreens bring Cooke City's local history to life.
Campground · 3.4 mi awayFox Creek CampgroundSleep under conifers with Pilot and Index Peaks in view.Parkwolf’s Beartooth Highway ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
