Upper Sheepherder Lake
The bigger and higher of the two Sheepherder lakes, and the one most maps label simply Sheepherder. About an hour and a half in on a use trail.
Lower Sheepherder Lake
The bigger of the two Sheepherder lakes and the first one you reach, about forty minutes in on a use trail off the Beartooth Highway.
Elk Lake (East Rosebud)
The first lake up the East Rosebud, a bit over three miles on good trail. Easy camping and abundant small brookies, but after the flood this is a wide spot in the river you could wade across.
Little Goose Lake
Goose Lake
Eight miles of jeep road north of Cooke City, then a quarter mile on foot. Nearly every stocked Yellowstone cutthroat in Montana traces back to this lake.
Snyder Lake
The trail quits at the end of the pond. Everything past that is cross-country, up the valley to a 13-acre lake at 10,005 feet — 4.3 miles round trip from the Long Lake Trailhead.
Mystic Lake (West Rosebud)
Three miles and 1,300 feet to the overlook, and that climb is nearly the whole drainage. The most popular hike in the Beartooths, and the gate to everything above it.
Sill Lake
Three quarters of a mile off the Beartooth Lake outlet, with 200 feet of climbing up front and a trail that vanishes in three places.
Crater Lake (West Rosebud)
Two miles on the Ernie Strum Trail past Lily Pad, to water warm enough to swim in by June. Rainbow trout at eight to twelve inches.
Lily Pad Lake
A mile and a half on the Ernie Strum Trail to brook trout at 6,412 feet, warm enough to swim by June. The lily pads make casting difficult.
Christmas Lake
Under a mile below an unmarked highway pull-out, steep the whole way and invisible from the road. Mark your entry point before you drop in.
Reed Lake (Lower Vernon)
Under three miles on trail past Lillis and Vernon, with a bushwhack to the shore and mosquitoes that earn the word extreme.
Vernon Lake
Two and a half miles on maintained trail past Lillis, with brook trout and cutthroat both listed. Bushwhack the last stretch to the water.
Margaret Lake
Two and a half miles past Lillis, with the last two tenths off trail through timber thick with bear sign. Yellowstone cutthroat at the end of it.
Lillis Lake
Under two miles in, and the gateway to every lake on the Russell Creek trail. Bank right just before Kersey, brook trout and flat ground at the end.
Sioux Charley Lake
Three and a half miles up the Stillwater to abundant brook trout. The 2022 flood moved the trailhead, so start behind the restrooms.
Meadow Lake
Half a mile cross-country off a 4x4 road, with marsh all the way around. Plan on wet feet if you want to touch the water.