Parking
No dedicated trailhead lot or confirmed public parking point was verified. The west access is at the Yellowstone-boundary end in Silver Gate; arrange a ride from Cooke City or retrace the road.
Overview
About Bannock Trail
Why go
- A low-grade way to walk between two small communities.
Heads up
- Shared with motor vehicles; return logistics need planning.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Beartooth Highway map
Full mapElevation7,398–7,539 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active Beartooth Highway alert
- ClosureBeartooth Highway seasonal closure and falling-rock advisoryBeartooth Highway (US-212) is closed for the season between Cooke City and Red Lodge; do not plan to travel the highway as a through route.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Beartooth Highway Tour Guide
Your drive to Bannock Trail, narrated.
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 area
Before the Highway: Bannock Trail0:00 / 0:31
“The Bannock Trail around Silver Gate carries a much older travel story than the highway. Shoshone and Bannock people crossed the Yellowstone country to reach bison hunting grounds on the Great Plains.”
Plays on the road 1 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Beartooth Highway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Turning Smoke into a Map Location
- Cooke City: Museum and Historic Store
- Soda Butte Campground
- Colter Campground
- 62 audio storiesacross Beartooth Highway’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Grizzly Bear, Gray Wolf, Bison, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 82 trails, 36 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“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!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Bannock Trail
Between Silver Gate and Cooke CityBannock Trail is a 2.
Bannock Trail is a 2.9-mile, one-way point-to-point walk along the local dirt-and-gravel road from its west access at the Yellowstone boundary in Silver Gate to Cooke City. The mapped line rises about 135 feet net as it heads east. Allow about 1.5 hours one way; retracing the route makes a 5.8-mile outing, so arrange a ride or turn back before you start.
The road itselfThis is a mellow road walk rather than a purpose-built hiking tread: motor vehicles use the…
This is a mellow road walk rather than a purpose-built hiking tread: motor vehicles use the same corridor, with gravel and dirt underfoot and a short wooden bridge near Silver Gate. It runs through a steep-sided valley between wooded slopes. Bridal Falls is a separate scramble off the road, not part of this mapped route or its mileage.
Access and nearby servicesThe west end is at the Yellowstone boundary in Silver Gate, and the line ends in Cooke City.
The west end is at the Yellowstone boundary in Silver Gate, and the line ends in Cooke City. No dedicated lot or confirmed public parking point was found; use only legal parking and plan your return from Cooke City. Local tourism promotes this road for walking, but public summer access rights along cabin-served sections were not confirmed. Follow posted signs and verify access before setting out. Silver Gate's Log Cabin Cafe is a separate, summer-only stop; Cooke City has additional seasonal shops and restaurants.
An old supply roadThe roadbed served as a supply route for mining-era Cooke City.
The roadbed served as a supply route for mining-era Cooke City. The Bannock name recalls the Bannock band of the Shoshone, who used this route to reach buffalo grounds on the Great Plains.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Beartooth Highway
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.
