Lake at Falls
Drainage: East Rosebud
Approaches: Approximately 18 miles round trip from the East Rosebud trailhead, with roughly 2,000 feet of climbing.
Elevation: 8,200 feet
Fish: Yellowstone cutthroat and golden trout hybrids, common and self-sustaining. Pure cutthroat rare. Montana FWP.
Coordinates: 45.12356, -109.7071
Bugs: Not a problem in August.
Getting there
Fifth lake in the drainage, fourth one you walk to, and all of it on maintained trail.
Our track put it at about 9 miles from the trailhead. FWP publishes 11. Plan on the longer number.
Climbing runs about 2,000 feet from the car. We came at it from a camp at Rainbow rather than in one push, reaching the lake late morning after roughly an hour of walking.
The hike
The trail runs the north shore. The falls come in across the water on the south side, dropping off the mountain in narrow ribbons through slabs and timber into the talus at the waterline. Two were running when we came through in late August, and you can see them the whole time you are walking the lake.
Lake at Falls is 49.8 acres and 50 feet deep at the deepest, with a shallower average around 19 feet. FWP calls it heavily used, and it is, but they also note the fishery appears to be in good shape.
The fishing everywhere below here started at this lake. Golden trout were planted in 1955, drifted downstream into Rainbow, and seeded the hybrid populations both lakes are now known for. What is left here reads mostly as Yellowstone cutthroat by appearance, though FWP classes the common fish as cutthroat-golden hybrids. Their sampling found 25 fish in 2020 averaging 12.3 inches and 27 in 2015 averaging 13.8, the largest just under 16. The 2020 fish came from about five and a half hours of angling.
If Lake at Falls is your destination, or if you are continuing on Trail #15, you never leave the trail and you never get your feet wet. The inlet crossing only matters to people going up Falls Creek toward Martin. We crossed it on our route up falls creek, definetly plan on water shoes.
Tips & safety
Navigation: Trail #15 the whole way along the north shore, no route-finding required, and the trail continues past the lake.
Camping: FWP reports a couple of good spots with firewood available but picked over.
Fishing: Cutthroat-golden hybrids averaging 12 to 14 inches in FWP's recent sampling, with fish approaching 16. Self-sustaining since the 1955 golden trout plant.
Bugs: Nothing that stood out.
The falls: South shore, across the water from the trail. Two were still running in late August.
Falls Creek inlet crossing: Only on the route up Falls Creek, not on the Beaten Path. You will need water shoes.
