Parking
The mapped start meets a gravel road above Cooke City. No signed lot or safe pullout is confirmed; verify road access and where to park before driving up.
Overview
About Henderson Mountain Trail #579
Why go
- A compact out-and-back reaches high open country
Heads up
- No verified trailhead parking directions
- High elevation adds effort to a short walk
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Beartooth Highway map
Full mapElevation9,666–9,971 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 Henderson Mountain Trail #579, 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 tourMore stories near here in the app
- Cooke City: Museum and Historic Store
- Soda Butte Campground
- Before the Highway: Bannock Trail
- 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 Henderson Mountain Trail #579
A short, high-country out-and-backHenderson Mountain Trail 579 is a 2.9-mile out-and-back on the high track above Cooke City.
Henderson Mountain Trail #579 is a 2.9-mile out-and-back on the high track above Cooke City. Walk the 1.5-mile mapped line to its eastern end, then return the same way. It reaches about 9,970 feet and gains roughly 500 feet over the round trip. Allow about an hour and a half; the altitude makes this feel like more than the distance suggests.
Keep the routes straightThis is the named Trail 579 route, not the separate Daisy Pass scramble to Henderson Mountain’s…
This is the named Trail #579 route, not the separate Daisy Pass scramble to Henderson Mountain’s summit or the groomed snowmobile trail to Lulu Pass. Think of it as a short walk across high country, not a summit day.
Sort out the access firstThe western start meets a gravel road above Cooke City.
The western start meets a gravel road above Cooke City. The route is mapped as a track, but its on-the-ground tread and trailhead parking are not well documented. Confirm that the road is accessible and where you can leave a vehicle before driving up. Pets are allowed on the forest route; keep them under control and pack out waste.
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.
