Fishing & Backpacking Montana’s Beartooth Mountains

Dad, Brian, and I went fly fishing for 9 days in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana, which are located northeast of Yellowstone. Seven of those days were spent backpacking out into the higher country of the Beartooths, and it was a great chance to get away for a little self-sufficiency and high quality fly fishing. The first two days of our trip up into the mountains looked like this: all bushwhack and no trail, using a map and Brian’s experience in the mountains as our guide. Lots of wading through grasses and climbing up rockslide slopes. Fun stuff, and it gave an appreciation for how much easier and simpler regular trails make the backpacking experience, even if the trails are really steep!

Dad and Scott on a bluff overlooking the burnt remains of an old forest fire, which now reveals Pilot Peak off to the upper right. The large summer wildfires that swept across the US were mostly west of us, though we could smell the smoke from time to time. The haze was visible in the air, too, and this made for sunsets that turned deep red much earlier than usual.

Here, Brian and Dad are practicing the secret fish call that I taught them. These guys may think they know everything about how to catch fish, but I taught them the truly masterful aspects of putting one’s hand above one’s head and waving it like a dorsal fin to attract the really big ones. Sometimes, making strange fish mating calls helps, too, though that is an art form difficult for most to master.

Dad and Scott hiking back to camp on the way down from Lake of the Winds. The lake was very pretty and remote, and it made for some picturesque fishing. This was the only day that I didn’t bring my Goretex clothing with me, so we of course got pelted by a mountain hail storm. By the time I was soaked and protected under a spindly high altitude tree, the storm stopped! Ah, but the fishing continued…

Brian and Dad fishing from the shores of Fossil Lake, at about the 10,000 foot elevation level. We basecamped here for a few days of very good fishing and an excursion out to the best lake of the entire trip. Lots of opportunities for checking out different areas of shoreline, eating backpacking food (I didn’t want to even look at a granola bar after the trip…), and catching sunsets over the lake. The days were very comfortable, and the nights were of course colder yet were also comfortable with all our layers of clothing on. Made for good sleeping weather: cool air after a day of fishing and hiking!

If you look close, you can see me flyfishing at the base of the falls that cascade into this great little fishing hole that Brian found. Fun fish that gave enough challenge to keep our interest, yet they were never too easy or quickly catchable. Good balance, and big fish, too!

Scott taking in the view part way along the valley that we just hiked/scrambled/bushwhacked up. Much of this hike was spent jumping from rock to rock, tracing the curves of small lakes, and going up the sides of pretty cascading waterfalls, all in an effort to get to interesting lakes that are not accessible by trails. Topo maps are a great thing for trips like this!

The Three Fishkateers on our last night out. I proposed a Vienna Fingers cookie toast to a great trip, which we had just nibbled on at this point. This night, Brian found a well made campsite hidden off the trail that was probably used by horse outfitters who came up into the mountains. It was like staying at the camp equivalent of the Ritz Carlton: we had nails in trees to hang our clothes and logs to sit on! We walked through a cold river to get to the site, but who minded that? After 7 days out, luxury becomes a relative thing…