Parking
Use Nichols Creek Trailhead at the West Fork Road end for the lower start. The route finishes at Red Lodge Mountain; plan a shuttle or return by Ski Run Road.
Overview
About Nichols Creek Trail
Why go
- A meadow and creek crossing lead into pine forest.
Heads up
- The point-to-point route needs a shuttle or a road return.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Beartooth Highway map
Full mapElevation6,302–7,552 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 Nichols Creek 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 area
Alice Greenough Takes the Show on the Road0:00 / 0:24
“Alice Greenough grew up working on her family's ranch near Red Lodge. In nineteen twenty-nine, she and her sister Margie answered an advertisement for women bronc riders and joined the rodeo circuit.”
Plays on the road 1.9 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Beartooth Highway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Trees Pruned by Winter
- A Grouse's Drumroll
- Mount Maurice Trailhead
- West Fork Road: Calamity and Sentinel Falls
- 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 Nichols Creek Trail
The full uphill lineNichols Creek Trail is a 4.
Nichols Creek Trail is a 4.3-mile point-to-point walk from the West Fork Road access to the Red Lodge Mountain ski-area end. Allow about 3 to 4 hours one way for the climb. From the lower end the route rises roughly 1,300 feet, with a few short dips. It is a long forest walk rather than a summit hike; the reward is the changing creek drainage and a longer stretch of pine woods.
Meadow into pinesThe lower section starts on two-track through a cupped meadow.
The lower section starts on two-track through a cupped meadow. After a creek crossing, the woods close around the trail. Spring visitors have reported pasque flowers and bluebells in the meadow. Higher up, the tread changes to dirt singletrack and packed-rock switchbacks. Two large water bars are near the West Fork end, and some turns are tight.
Share the trailThis is a multi-use route that mountain bikers commonly ride downhill.
This is a multi-use route that mountain bikers commonly ride downhill. Stay alert for riders, especially around tight turns with limited sight lines. The trail is a steady climb for hikers in this direction, not a dedicated walking-only path.
Choose your turnaroundThe complete mapped line is 4.3 miles one way; retracing it makes about 8.6 miles round trip.
The complete mapped line is 4.3 miles one way; retracing it makes about 8.6 miles round trip. Hiking descriptions also give a shorter 3.8-mile out-and-back and an approximately 8-mile round trip to the ski-area end. The shorter distance cannot cover the full line, and its turnaround point is unclear. For a one-car trip, arrange a shuttle or return from the ski-area end by Ski Run Road.
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.
