Chain Lakes
Eighty acres at 9,800 feet, two minutes from where a normal car can park. The last easy stop before the road turns into real 4x4 terrain.
Duck Lake
Three hundred and ninety one yards down off the track, and 177 feet back up. The only lake on this road that asks anything on foot.
Lost Lake (Hidden Lake)
Six hundred feet above Shadow Lake up a steep drainage, with a boulder field at the top big enough that dogs need carrying through it.
Shadow Lake (East Rosebud)
Two and a half miles and 2,240 feet with no trail, through a burn thick with brush and hidden deadfall. Wear long pants.
Snow Lakes
Three thousand feet up an off-trail drainage from the East Rosebud trail. Stay north of the creek, and expect Upper Snow to ice over early.
Deep Lake (Clarks Fork, WY)
Short walk, one serious warning: do not follow the inlet stream. Cliffs, brush and fast water that way, and a proper trail the other.
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.