South Meadow Creek Lake

Total Miles
3.1

Technical Rating

Moderate

Best Time

Spring, Summer, Fall

Trail Type

High-Clearance 4x4 Trail

Accessible By

Trail Overview

The South Meadow Creek Lake Trail is an out and back in Beaverhead National Forest, Montana. The trail has beautiful views throughout, especially at the mountain lake. The first half is very easy and then gets increasingly difficult during the climb. The obstacles in the final stretch will likely be impassable for stock SUVs and trucks. There's old mining equipment to explore before the trail gets too difficult. Several campsites are along the trail and at the lake. The trail doesn't have cell service so be sure to download offline maps.

Photos of South Meadow Creek Lake

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Difficulty

The final climb to the lake will require a modified SUV or truck.

Technical Rating

Status Reports

Pretty fun and easy trail. No consequential obstacles or features. Biggest obstacle would be other people coming down and having to squeeze by. Great views and the lake has great fishing, cliff jumping, kayaking, and hiking. This is bear country so be prepared and pack in what you pack out.

The trail was easy to moderate(ish) for the first 4+ miles. It gets more technical with larger rocks the higher you go. It also becomes pretty narrow, and a full size truck will get pin-striping. A Jeep/Taco/4R would probably be fine on width. The last half mile... a stock 1/2 ton truck will probably not make it. Mostly because of a rock wash (pictured) with 3 larger boulders not passable without proper approach angle. A stock height Tundra TRD with us didn't stand a chance at that point without real risk. My 2.5" lifted Ram on 35"s with skids cut it a little too close. It will require a higher lift than a level and will need large (min. 33") tires. The last third of the trail has effectively no turn around for a large truck. It is beautiful all around, we saw no one until we came down the next day until we passed a lone SXS near the entrance. Ultimately this trail even in the best condition is ideal for high clearance jeeps/4Rs, SXS, and ATVs. Anything else will probably have you cursing!

Trail was pretty clean until it wasn’t large snowdrifts after the mine. Had to remove a couple of mid sized trees.

Long rock gardens and shelf roads, nothing impassable though.