Star Lake (West Rosebud)

Drainage: West Rosebud
Approaches: Mystic Lake Trailhead — 12 mi, 9 on trail with 3 mi off-trail; 2,700 ft up · From Silver Lake — about 2.8 mi south, roughly 6 hours · From the Goose Lake area above, dropping in

Elevation: 8,603 feet
Fish: Yellowstone cutthroat (FWP)
Coordinates: 45.16823, -109.86285
Bugs: Minimal on our visit

Getting there

Drive West Rosebud Road past Emerald Lake and West Rosebud Lake. The trailhead lot sits just before the power plant at the end of the road, with plenty of room for a standard vehicle.

FWP routes Star at twelve miles with three of them off trail and 2,700 feet of climbing. We came at it from a camp at Silver Lake, which is shorter on paper and worse in practice.

The hike

Read this before you decide which way to go, because the direction matters more here than on any other lake in the drainage.

From Silver Lake there is a trail that runs a little way up to a beautiful overlook across a mountain valley. Just past that vantage point the path vanishes. Maps show a trail. There is no trail. Do not spend your day looking for it, because hunting for tread that is not there will wear you out faster than the walking will.

Past the overlook you are on occasional game trails and nothing else. You pick your own line and drop into the creek drainage, then follow it through dense overgrowth and heavy timber. There is a great deal of downed timber to climb over and thick undergrowth to push through. If it rains you will be soaked and you will stay soaked, because the brush holds water and there is no break from it.

It took us close to six hours to cover 2.8 miles.

Star is 27.6 acres at 8,603 feet, which makes it one of the larger lakes in this part of the drainage. FWP lists Yellowstone cutthroat.

Tips & safety

• Come at it from above instead. The climb out of Silver is grueling enough that we would not do it that way again. Dropping into the basin from the Goose Lake area above is the better approach, and if you have the option, take it.

• The mapped trail does not exist. It ends at the overlook above Silver. Everything after that is your own line.

• Deadfall and brush: expect sustained work climbing over downed timber and forcing through undergrowth. This is not a walk that gets easier once you are warmed up.

• Camping: there are possible sites on the south side of the lake. We were too worn out to scout them, so that is what the ground looked like rather than a report on what is there.

• Fishing: FWP lists Yellowstone cutthroat.