Parking
Start at the US 212 access where Tolman Mountain Trail #613.1C begins. A separate named parking lot was not verified.
Overview
About Deep Lake Trail
Why go
- A nearly two-mile lake sits in a dramatic cliff-ringed basin.
- The halfway lookout gives a striking view down into the lake basin.
Heads up
- The route is a full-day 15-mile out-and-back with a long climb on the return.
- The final scramble is steep, and little shoreline is accessible.
Deep Lake Trail is a hard, high-country out-and-back of about 15 miles round trip from US 212 to a long alpine lake tucked below steep cliffs. It follows Tolman Mountain Trail #613.1C, joins High Line Trail briefly, then descends on Deep Lake Trail #613.1D to the water. Deep Lake is nearly two miles long, but most of its shoreline is hard to reach. This is a full-day effort for hikers set on the lake, not a casual lakeside walk.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs this the hike for you?Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Beartooth Highway map
Full mapElevation8,018–10,843 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 Deep Lake 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
Deep Lake Highway Trailhead0:00 / 0:23
“Ahead is the highway trailhead for Deep Lake, a long lake beneath steep, forested cliffs. Plan on a hard ten-hour hike: fifteen miles out and back, with roughly three thousand feet to climb on the return.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Beartooth Highway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Twin Lakes Overlook
- Beartooth Basin Summer Ski Area
- Gardner Lake Overlook
- Twin Lakes Trailhead
- 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 Deep Lake Trail
Use this approachSeveral routes reach different parts of Deep Lake; this route uses the US 212 access at the…
Several routes reach different parts of Deep Lake; this route uses the US 212 access at the start of Tolman Mountain Trail #613.1C. Follow it to High Line Trail, take the short connector, then turn onto #613.1D and descend to the shore. Keep that junction sequence clear: the tread is faint in spots, and a missed turn has sent hikers over extra ridges. This is an out-and-back, so save energy for the long climb back to the highway.
A full-day effortThe trailhead is already above 10,000 feet.
The trailhead is already above 10,000 feet. From there, the route drops roughly 3,000 feet to the lake, then climbs it back on the return. The final stretch is steep and rough, and the elevation makes the climb out feel longer than the descent in. Allow about 10 hours and plan this as your main hike of the day.
The lake and the viewThe lake stretches nearly two miles between steep, forested cliffs, with only a little…
The lake stretches nearly two miles between steep, forested cliffs, with only a little shoreline accessible. A lookout about halfway down gives the best elevated view of the basin; pause there to take in the whole lake before the final descent. The last roughly 100 yards to the water is a steep scramble, so this is not a stroll along an easy lakeshore.
A long-running local hikeBy 2023, Powell resident Jess Blough had hiked to Deep Lake nearly every year for 58 years, and…
By 2023, Powell resident Jess Blough had hiked to Deep Lake nearly every year for 58 years, and shared the outing with his granddaughter. It is the kind of place people return to for the lake itself, despite the long approach and hard climb back.
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.
