South Meadow Creek Lake

Total Miles3.1
Technical Rating
4Moderate
Best TimeSpring, Summer, Fall
Trail TypeHigh-Clearance 4x4 Trail
Accessible By
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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

Difficulty

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

Technical Rating

4

Status Reports

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Leonard H
Aug 24, 2026
2016 Toyota Sequoia
Open
Lots of people on the weekend. Modified full size rigs and smaller only. Stock Full-size stand no chance of getting through without damage and high chance of bottoming out and jamming the whole road up in some sections. Unless you’re trying to rip a bumper or tear off your muffler, don’t even try it. My 2016 sucko tree has upgraded tie rods, extended cv axels, trd skid plate, and beilstein b8 UCAs/5100 shocks all around with stock coils , which equates to less than a 2 inch lift, no dif drop kit done, pretty much wanna be trd lol. Anyways, it was too rough to want to do again anytime soon. Maybe when I get a set of king EXT shocks and get off my stock 20s with Wranglers and into 17s and a true 33 inch tire.
Melissa Rios
Aug 16, 2026
Open
Leonard H
Aug 15, 2026
2016 Toyota Sequoia
Open
Rough/Deteriorated
Rough but doable. Dented my running boards on both sides.
Dalton Cope
May 29, 2026
2016 Toyota Tacoma
Open
Rough/Deteriorated
Pretty Rugged stuff, but with the right line a stock suspension Toyota can get up here. Some snowmelt run off made a few sections slick with wet rocks, and the last 50 feet was obstructed by snow, which we were willing to dig out for 30 minutes to be the first up this summer.
Jacob Metz
May 11, 2026
2018 Toyota Tacoma
Obstructed
Deep Snow
90% of the trail is currently passable. The last 10% has 3-5 ft snow drifts that are only possible if you have a winch and a lot of time.
Luka Schymik
Sep 21, 2025
2008 Toyota 4Runner
Open
Normal
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.
Jackson McCone
Jul 21, 2025
2024 RAM 1500
Open
Muddy/Wet
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!
J. Ponce
Jun 12, 2025
2020 Toyota 4Runner
Obstructed
Deep SnowDowned Tree
Trail was pretty clean until it wasn’t large snowdrifts after the mine. Had to remove a couple of mid sized trees.
Dave Starr
Oct 26, 2024
2022 Ford Bronco
Open
Normal
Long rock gardens and shelf roads, nothing impassable though.
Greg O
Sep 29, 2024
Open
Normal
Lg rocks, few ledges to work through. Otherwise, the trail was normal. Slow going for us in a modified suspension General.
Ian Farnes
Sep 07, 2024
Open
This is a pretty fun but easy trail! Drastically easier than the nearby North Meadow trail to McKelvey Lake. I would say it would be difficult for a Subaru Outback or a full sized truck due to how tight it is but any high clearance 4x4 should easily make it up. The old mill site is super cool with quite a bit of remaining structure. The large lake at the end looked like a really cool place to camp and had fish jumping everywhere. More people than I usually run into on roads like this but I'd bet the proximity to Yellowstone had something to do with that. We will definitely do it again!
Jason Taylor
Sep 01, 2024
2023 Toyota 4Runner
Open
Dusty
Rick Nickolaus
Aug 07, 2024
Open
Dusty
Road was rough for a couple that have been riding the last couple of days. We only made it to the old mine before we turned around. More people than we thought for a weekday.
J. Ponce
Jun 23, 2024
2020 Toyota 4Runner
Obstructed
Downed Tree
Trail in good shape other than we had to remove 3 trees than weren’t there on the way up.
Beau Albright
Jun 09, 2024
Open
Normal
Trail was in good shape. Last hill to lake had a decent sized snow drift.

South Meadow Creek Lake Trail can be accessed by the following ride types:

  • Single Track
  • 50 Inch
  • 60 Inch
  • High Clearance

South Meadow Creek Lake Map

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