Campground · Beartooth Highway
A free creekside campground near Beartooth Highway hikes.
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
Main Fork Road: Glacier Lake“Up ahead is the turnoff for Main Fork Rock Creek Road and the Glacier Lake hike. The lake is well beyond the highway: a rough, rocky road leads to the trailhead, and high clearance is advised.”
Plays as you drive up to M-K Campground 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
M-K Campground sits beside Rock Creek, about three miles up gravel Main Fork Rock Creek Road #2421 from US 212 and the Beartooth Highway. Its ten free, first-come, first-served sites suit a simple overnight stop or a base for nearby hikes, if you can be flexible about finding a space.
The campground can fill on summer weekends and holidays, so aim to arrive in the early afternoon. There’s a vault toilet but no potable water, trash pickup or provided firewood. Bring drinking water, and pack out your rubbish. Some sites have bear-resistant food lockers, but availability varies. Trailers are limited to 20 feet.
The campground is unmaintained outside its full-service season, Memorial Day through Labor Day, and the access road isn’t plowed in winter. Access depends on snow; the Beartooth Highway itself usually closes around mid-October, weather permitting.
Rock Creek runs alongside the campground, and stream fishing is one of the listed activities. The trees and creekside setting are the main draw; individual sites vary, so not every spot has the same access to the water. Nearby hikes make this a useful place to stay an extra night.
“M-K” refers to Morrison-Knudsen, the contractor whose crew built the Beartooth Highway switchbacks from 1932 to 1936. Their construction camp was in the valley near today’s campground, though its exact location hasn’t been established.
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
ModerateHellroaring Plateau Trail5.8 mi · 4 hr · 1.1 mi awayFollow an old road to a talus overlook above Shelf Lake.
EasyGreenough Lake Trail #103.10.4 mi · 20 min · 1.2 mi awayA quick, gentle walk to a Beartooth lake.
EasyParkside Trail #1032.3 mi · 1.3 hr · 2 mi awayA gentle walk through pine woods and meadows between two campgrounds.
ChallengingLine Creek Plateau Trail7.9 mi · 5 hr · 2.4 mi awayA long, exposed crossing over open alpine tundra.
ModerateTwin Lakes Trail1.7 mi · 1.5 hr · 2.6 mi awayA high-country descent to Twin Lakes, then a steep climb back.
ModerateBroadwater Lake via Lake Fork Trail7.5 mi · 4 hr · 3 mi awayA creekside ramble ends in Broadwater's open mountain meadows.
ChallengingSundance Pass Traverse20.5 mi · 11 hr · 3 mi awayA full day over Sundance Pass, from lakes to wild creek.
ChallengingLake Fork Trail #2 to Sundance Pass19 mi · 12 hr · 3 mi awayA long creekside climb from lakes to a high alpine pass
Sight · 1.2 mi awayRock Creek Vista PointA short paved path opens onto a huge glacial valley.
Scenic pullout · 1.3 mi awayQuad Creek Scenic OverlookThe highway curls below you across a wide mountain valley.
Campground · 1.5 mi awayGreenough Lake CampgroundCreekside camping, with Greenough Lake a short walk away.
Campground · 1.7 mi awayLimber Pine CampgroundA quiet creekside base below the Beartooth switchbacks.
Campground · 2 mi awayParkside CampgroundCreekside camping near the foot of the Beartooth switchbacks.
Sight · 2.5 mi awayMontana-Wyoming State Line SignA quick state-line sign stop on the seasonal Beartooth Highway.
Scenic pullout · 3.4 mi awayTwin Lakes OverlookTwo alpine lakes, seen from above without a hike.
Sight · 4.3 mi awayBeartooth Basin Summer Ski AreaSummer skiing on a steep high-alpine headwall.Parkwolf’s Beartooth Highway ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
