Bowback Lake

Drainage: Rock Creek
Approaches: West Fork Rock Creek Trailhead — 8.5 mi, 6.5 on trail with 2 mi off-trail; 2,700 ft up, 200 ft down · From Triangle Lake — about 0.5 mi west-northwest · From Ship Lake — about 0.4 mi north-northwest

Elevation: 10,594 feet
Fish: Yellowstone cutthroat (FWP)
Coordinates: 45.12218, -109.59998
Bugs: Minimal on our visit

Getting there

West Fork Rock Creek Trailhead. Drive past the campgrounds along the gravel access road to the main parking area.

FWP puts Bowback at eight and a half miles with two of them off trail, 2,700 feet of climbing and 200 feet of descent. We did it as part of a four day trip out of the same trailhead, camping at about 9,400 feet and working the upper basin from there.

The hike

Bowback was the third lake of the third day, about half a mile west-northwest of Triangle.

The walking between the bench lakes stays easy across open rock, and Bowback is no exception. There is no trail anywhere up here, but the ground is open and the lakes are visible from a distance, so it is a matter of picking a line rather than hunting for one.

At 10,594 feet Bowback is the northernmost lake in this cluster and among the highest, level with Ship and about 140 feet above Triangle.

Bowback is 6.4 acres. FWP lists Yellowstone cutthroat.

Ship is about four tenths of a mile south-southeast and is the next water on the loop, and it is a different proposition at nearly 29 acres.

Tips & safety

• Navigation: no maintained footpaths anywhere in this cluster. Open ground and visible water make it manageable, but you are reading terrain the whole way.

• Weather: high country with nothing to break a front. Come prepared for sustained wind or a storm that arrives fast.

• Fishing: FWP lists Yellowstone cutthroat.

• Camping: Bowback sits at 10,594 feet on open rock, well above treeline, so no timber, no wind shelter and no firewood. The shoreline is rock and at 6.4 acres there is little of it. Being the highest and most northern of the cluster, it is also the most exposed. We camped nearly two miles south at around 9,400 feet and worked the basin from there.