Parking
From US 212, turn west onto Lake Fork Road (Forest Road 2346) and drive 1.9 miles to Lake Fork Trailhead 2. The Forest Service describes ample parking, including room for horse trailers, and a vault toilet.
Overview
About Lost Lake Trail (Lake Fork)
Why go
- A varied creekside approach with a waterfall, Broadwater Lake, and a high alpine lake.
- Broadwater is a worthwhile shorter turnaround with its own open views.
Heads up
- The long approach repeats on the return; Lost Lake is about 10.6 miles round trip.
- The grade steepens near the end and crosses an avalanche chute.
Lost Lake via Lake Fork is a 10.6-mile out-and-back from Lake Fork Trailhead 2, following Lake Fork Trail #2 to the Lost Lake junction and then taking the #2B spur. The long approach starts beside a creek, opens into meadows and a waterfall, then passes Broadwater Lake before a steeper final climb to Lost Lake. Expect about 1,350 feet of climbing and around six hours with time to stop. Go for the progression from forested river valley to high lake; remember that every mile of the approach comes again on the way back.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs this the hike for you?Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Beartooth Highway map
Full mapElevation7,238–8,507 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 Lost Lake Trail (Lake Fork), 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
Lake Fork Road: Broadwater Lake0:00 / 0:28
“You're nearing Lake Fork Road, the access for a creekside hike to Broadwater Lake. The trailhead is one point nine miles up the road from the highway.”
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 Cutthroat's Red Slash
- Rock Creek Campgrounds and Greenough Lake
- Main Fork Road: Glacier 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 Lost Lake Trail (Lake Fork)
Follow the creek westThe trail crosses a bridge to the south side of the Lake Fork of Rock Creek and follows the…
The trail crosses a bridge to the south side of the Lake Fork of Rock Creek and follows the water on mostly rolling, fairly gentle grades. Around 1.2 miles, meadows open the view toward the cliffs of Silver Run Plateau, with Thunder Mountain and Whitetail Peak above the valley. A waterfall comes into view at about 2.75 miles. Broadwater Lake arrives around mile 3.75, with an open meadow at its east end and a wider look west toward the peaks.
The last climb to Lost LakePast Broadwater, the grade gets steeper.
Past Broadwater, the grade gets steeper. Around mile 4 the route crosses an avalanche chute, then winds through thicker forest to the Lost Lake junction near mile 5. Take the left, southbound #2B spur and climb roughly another 0.3 mile to the lake. Peak 10,913 fills the view across the water, with Peak 10,583 and Thunder Mountain to the west. From the north shore, keep some water in the foreground to give the mountain its scale.
Know the effortMost of the approach is a steady valley walk, but this is still a long mountain day, not a…
Most of the approach is a steady valley walk, but this is still a long mountain day, not a short stroll to a lake. The route reaches roughly 8,500 feet, and the final spur is steeper than the first several miles. It suits hikers comfortable with a full day on trail and a same-route return. The route enters the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness; this is bear country, so carry bear spray where you can reach it quickly. Snow can linger on the higher Lake Fork trail. The Forest Service says the full route to Sundance Pass is not usually clear of snow until around mid-July; that is not a Lost Lake-specific opening date, so check conditions before an early-season hike.
A shorter walk to BroadwaterIf 10.6 miles is too much, Broadwater Lake makes a natural turnaround at about 7.
If 10.6 miles is too much, Broadwater Lake makes a natural turnaround at about 7.5 miles round trip. You still get the creek, waterfall, and a high-country lake before skipping the steeper Lost Lake spur. Return the way you came; there is no loop.
Trailhead and parkingFrom US 212, turn west onto Lake Fork Road (Forest Road 2346) and continue 1.
From US 212, turn west onto Lake Fork Road (Forest Road 2346) and continue 1.9 miles to Lake Fork Trailhead 2. The lot has ample parking, room for horse trailers, and a vault toilet. The route described here stops at Lost Lake; Lake Fork Trail continues beyond the junction toward Keyser Brown Lake and Sundance Pass, which are different, longer hikes.
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.
