Parking
Turn off US 212 onto the Beartooth Lake Campground road and continue past the boat ramp to the signed Beartooth Lake Trailhead. Use the signed parking area.
Overview
About Beauty Lake Trail #621
Why go
- A direct lake walk with Crane Lake along the way
- A shorter outing than the Beartooth Lakes Loop
Heads up
- A rock-hop creek crossing near the start
- High elevation and a steady first-mile climb
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Beartooth Highway map
Full mapElevation8,907–9,485 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
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 Beauty Lake Trail #621, 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
Beartooth Lake0:00 / 0:31
“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 this trailhead in the Parkwolf Beartooth Highway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Beartooth Falls
- Top of the World Store
- Clay Butte Lookout Detour
- Island Lake
- 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 Beauty Lake Trail #621
The direct walk to Beauty LakeBeauty Lake Trail 621 is a 4.
Beauty Lake Trail #621 is a 4.6-mile out-and-back from Beartooth Lake Trailhead to the north shore of Beauty Lake. The mapped trail is 2.31 miles each way; you return on the same corridor. Allow about 2½ hours. It is a good high-country lake walk if you want a shorter outing than the Beartooth Lakes Loop. The trailhead is already near 8,900 feet, so the first climb can feel bigger than the mileage suggests.
The climb and the creekAt the early fork, keep right for Trail 621.
At the early fork, keep right for Trail #621. The route crosses Little Bear Creek by a rock-hop, then winds through willows and lodgepole forest. The first mile does most of the climbing, gaining about 350 feet; after that, the grade eases. Crane Lake appears on the left. Short, steep side paths drop to its water, but they are optional and are not part of the mapped Beauty Lake route.
At Beauty LakeContinue north beyond Crane Lake to Beauty Lake’s north end, then turn back.
Continue north beyond Crane Lake to Beauty Lake’s north end, then turn back. The forest opens around the high-country lake, with rocky shore and wooded ridges across the water. Calm water can reflect the surrounding hills. Take a moment along the shore and frame the reflection with a little foreground rock or vegetation; a straight shot across open water loses the sense of scale.
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.
