Silver Run Lakes
Drainage: Rock Creek
Approaches: Timberline Trailhead — 5 mi, 4.5 on trail with 0.5 mi off-trail; 1,900 ft up · From Timberline Lakes — about 2 mi cross-country; 500 ft up
Elevation: 9,450 to 9,650 feet across the group
Fish: Brook trout (FWP)
Coordinates: 45.12938, -109.48269
Bugs: Minimal on our visit
Getting there
Park at the Timberline trailhead in the Rock Creek area.
The hike
Two ways in, and the shorter one is not the easier one.
From the trailhead. Follow the main Timberline trail system. About five miles one way with 1,900 feet of climbing, most of it on trail with the last half mile off. The early approach cuts straight through an old burn with no shade at all, and on a summer afternoon that stretch turns into a heat trap. Carry more water than the distance suggests.
From a camp at Timberline Lakes. You can skip the official trail fork and round the hillside cross country instead. Two miles and 500 feet of climbing, with the hardest pull right at the start. It saves real time, and the hillside is not difficult ground once you are on it.
The Silver Run Lakes are a group rather than a single lake, spread across roughly 200 feet of elevation from about 9,450 to 9,650. FWP lists brook trout in them.
Tips & safety
The burn is the hard part of the trail route. No shade, exposed, and it gets genuinely hot. Extra water and sun protection for the lower miles.
The cross country shortcut has one bad creek crossing. That is the only real obstacle on it. Everything else on that hillside is manageable.
Fishing: FWP lists brook trout across the group.
Camping: the Silver Run Lakes sit between 9,450 and 9,650 feet, high enough that shelter is thin. Timberline Lake, two miles west, is 31.4 acres with more room and is where we camped.
