Parking
Signed Bear Track Trailhead parking lot on US 212, 8.4 miles south of the Beartooth Ranger District office; ample parking with room for horse trailers.
Overview
About Bear Track Trail
Why go
- Open hillside views over Rock Creek early in the climb
- A long high-country traverse across Silver Run Plateau
Heads up
- 12.5 miles one way with more than 4,000 feet of elevation change
- The through-hike ends at a junction, so the exit needs planning
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Beartooth Highway map
Full mapElevation6,677–10,568 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 Bear Track 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 trailhead
Bear Track Trailhead0:00 / 0:26
“Bear Track Trailhead is coming up, with a hard climb from Rock Creek Canyon to Silver Run Plateau.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Beartooth Highway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A Mountain Goat's Grip
- A Moving Tube of Sand
- A Cutthroat's Red Slash
- Rattin Campground and Corral Creek
- 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 Bear Track Trail
A long, one-way high-country routeBear Track Trail 8 is a 12.
Bear Track Trail #8 is a 12.5-mile point-to-point hike from Bear Track Trailhead in Rock Creek Canyon to the Timberline Trail #12 junction. It climbs steadily to Silver Run Plateau, then continues across the plateau into the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. This is a hard, all-day route with more than 4,000 feet of elevation change. The mapped line is about a mile shorter than the posted full-trail distance, so plan around the full 12.5 miles.
The climb to the plateauThe climb starts right away from the canyon and opens onto hillside with views across Rock…
The climb starts right away from the canyon and opens onto hillside with views across Rock Creek. Higher up, the route reaches the broad Silver Run Plateau. Its sunny, south-facing slope often clears snow sooner than nearby trails, but that seasonal pattern is no guarantee of clear or safe footing.
Choose your turnaroundAt five miles from the start, Silver Run Plateau Trail 64 branches right and descends toward…
At five miles from the start, Silver Run Plateau Trail #64 branches right and descends toward West Fork of Rock Creek. Bear Track stays across the plateau toward Timberline Trail #12. Turning around at that junction makes a 10-mile out-and-back and is a useful shorter option, though still a strenuous day. The full Bear Track route is a through-hike, not a loop: its finish is three miles along Timberline Trail from the Timberline Trailhead, so plan a pickup or allow those extra miles to reach the trailhead.
Access and backcountry rulesThe signed Bear Track parking lot is on US 212, 8.
The signed Bear Track parking lot is on US 212, 8.4 miles south of the Beartooth Ranger District office. There is ample room, including space for horse trailers. Bicycles are allowed only on the first five miles, before the wilderness boundary. Dogs are allowed; keep pets under control and pack out their waste. Carry EPA-registered bear spray and know how to use it in this bear country.
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.
