Crow Lake via Camp Senia Trail

Crow Lake via Camp Senia is a hard, 17.2-mile out-and-back from West Fork Trailhead: follow Camp Senia Trail #16 to the Crow Lake Trail #13B junction, then continue 0.6 mile to the lake. The return follows the same corridor. Published figures differ: one puts the branch 8 miles from the trailhead, while an area map lists 6.7. Use the longer figure for planning and reserve about 10 hours.

Camp Senia shares the West Fork Trailhead. Walk about 40 feet along West Fork Trail and take the signed right branch. The last 5.5 miles of West Fork Road are unpaved, and the road closes to vehicles from December 2 through April 14. No food or potable-water service is identified at this access.

The trail climbs from West Fork Road onto Red Lodge Creek Plateau and reaches above 10,000 feet before continuing through the high trail network toward Crow Lake. This is a natural-surface route with sustained climbing and a long return at altitude, not a quick lake stroll. The final approach can be brushy and muddy.

Crow Lake lies beneath a glacier-carved cirque, with blue-green water, lodgepole forest and jagged granite spires. The lake is the payoff; framing the near water against the spires shows the scale of the setting. Reaching the west shore requires boulder-hopping across several outlet channels. A separate East Rosebud Campground approach via Spread Creek Trail #13 is listed at about 14.8 miles round trip; it starts elsewhere and should not be confused with this Camp Senia route.