Jeff Schmerker
Access to the Beartooth
Despite how tantalizing and huge the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness is, there are precious few ways to access it, especially in winter when no roads leading into the heart of the mountains are plowed. One way to get a taste of the area without undertaking what is basically an expedition is to cross-country ski into the mountains at Lake Fork, south of Red Lodge. Here, a plowed parking area and signed ski trail follow either a summer road or a creek-side trail several miles to the normal summer trailhead before pushing deeper into the mountains. This is big country, and while the famous spires of
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