[Dslayer]

This is the best place I've ever been in just about every respect..it's 16 miles from the trailhead at East Rosebud Lake to Fossil Lake and an elevation gain of 3700 feet over those 16 miles, it can be done as a through hike to Hwy 212, the Cooke City Hwy which would is a total of 26 miles. Fossil Lake is the 10th lake up the trail and there are numerous other possibilities for off trail hikes to other lakes. The best description of this hike is a climb around the outfall of one lake to the lake above it, some with spectacular waterfalls, the most notable being Impasse Falls that tumbles in Duggan Lake, the NFS blasted a trail around and up above this falls, a number of large rocks, duggans, falling into the lake thus the name. The first three miles of the walk to Elk Lake is most notable for the devastation visited upon the area by the 1988 fires that started in Yellowstone NP but burned literally thousands of acres to the N of the Park in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness and outside the A-B Wilderness around the little community of summer homes at Alpine on East Rosebud Lake. After Elk Lake the trail ascends a magnificiently constructed trail across a rock field up to Rimrock Lake, another mile past this lake is Rainbow Lake, now 7 miles up the trail and a good mid point for a camp with a large flat area with water through it right behind the lake. The next lake is Lake at Falls, so named for a falls that plunges down into the lake from the Rimrock north of the Lake. Lake at Falls is followed by Big Park Lake, basically a widewater formed by the junction of East Rosebud and Granite Creeks, the latter flowing from the area of Granite Peak, tallest mtn. in Montana. I camped at Echo Lake the first night, a mile off the main trail, 12 miles in total. That night frost formed on my tent, making for a chilly night. The next day I made camp at Twin Outlets Lake, passing the aforementioned Duggan Lake and Impasse Falls, about 4 miles farther up the trail, then hiked the remaining three miles to Fossil to fish and explore. A major mistake in my plan was not spending enough time at Fossil and the surrounding area-I decided not to camp there because of the no-fire restrictions, there's very little wood up there-after the freezing previous night I decided a fire was necessary. Fossil seems as if it is on top the world and is surrounded by a bunch of other lakes that like Fossil, teem with fish. One of the nicest parts of the trip was that I ate fish virtually every meal until my aluminum foil and fish cooking supplies ran out the last day. I fished Fossil, then on down to Dewey Lake and Twin Outlets, catching cutthroat in all of them, and keeping just what I needed for dinner. The next day I started working my way back down the drainage, fishing each of the lakes-except Big Park. I stopped for lunch and to fish at Lake of Falls and caught about 15 fish in 40 minutes, several ranging up to about 17 inches. The fishing, in general was spectacular, but at this spot it was almost ridiculous the fish were so aggressive. If I ever learn to post pictures, and assuming my pictures turned out, I'll post them, words alone can't pay justice to this place, it is simply spectacular. Upon gaining each new vista, or each trun in the trail revealing new beauty, I was almost overwhelmed, it was literaaly one wonderment after another. On an equipment note, this was the first time I used my Go-Lite pack on more than an overnighter and it was excellent-I highly reccomend it, it hardly felt like I was carrying a pack, plus I've learned to trim a lot of weight from my pack by reading the commentary and advice from people at this site. I can hardly wait until my next trip into the Fossil area next year-I'm going to go in from the Cooke City side, it's a shorter walk and less elevation gain, though without quite as spectacular scenery until up near Fossil Lake.

[salish]

That's a great report, DSlayer. I sure hope the photos turn out - I'm sure we'd all love see them, and you're driving me crazy with the description of your fish! I've always wanted to hike where you went and also the Crazy Mountains. I'll send you a private. Cliff

[Brian]

Where is this place in relation to missoula? In a couple weeks I'm moving there (freshman at UM), and obviously it will be awhile before I get over the shock of school and get out in the woods, but I'm curious about areas anyways. Thanks Brian

[Dslayer]

Brian- It's about 300 miles west of Missoula via interstate then N from Columbus on State 78-28 miles to Roscoe Montana, then at Roscoe, take the road to the trailhead, it's well signed. Pretty long trip for a guy deeply engrossed in his studies but you're in great spot to go to school. I wish I was a little wiser back in the day and took a better look at all the possibilities, of course, I was going to be a major league baseball player anyways. Good luck-if you ever get to the Rosebud make sure to do a trip report or anything else over there in MT, I'll be eager to read about your adventures.