Map of Routes with Index

      Comparatively few people wander more than a half mile off developed trails. Those who trek cross country to reach the hundreds of isolated lakes and trailless peaks are unlikely to encounter many, or any, other visitors. There are many trails which lead directly to the plateaus without following a stream or passing by lakes. These lesser-used trails offer more wilderness solitude. ample opportunities for solitude await those willing to expend the extra effort. The steep, rugged terrain channels most of the visitation into narrow canyon corridors and at alpine lakes accessed by trail. Most of the use is in the lower 4 to 6 miles of each major canyon, with two-thirds being weekend day use.

Half Moon Campground to the South Fork of Sweet Grass Creek

     This is a 15 mile round trip moderately strenuous hike through the central crazy mountains.  Bring along two quadrilangle topo maps- Campfire Lake-MT and Crazy Peak-MT.  You start out at Half Moon Campground up Big Timber Creek.  Big Timber falls is a spectacular attraction within the first mile the trail.  Two nice bridges cross the creek as you walk up 3 miles from Half Moon campground.  At the base of Granite Peak, consider taking a 1 mile side trip up to Blue Lake.  From Blue Lake you can see a beautiful view of the tallest peak in the Crazy Mountains- Crazy Peak.  From the lake there are several peak scrambling routes to ascend the peak that are not technical but strenuous. The best route is to approach Crazy Peak from the southwest ridge.

     Six miles above Half Moon Campground up from Big Timber Creek the trail breaks out into lush meadows below Lower Twin Lake.  Rocky campsites are available at both the lower and upper lakes. From the upper lake the trail climbs 2,000 feet in 1 mile to a 10,000-foot pass next to Conical Peak. Take a short side scramble north to the summit- the effort is worth the view. Next drop a steep mile into the head of the South Fork of Sweet Grass Creek to Glacier Lake, which is often frozen into mid-July. No campsites are around the rocky shoreline but stay awhile enjoy the view of waterfalls and high cliffs. Next drop down the South Fork another 2 miles and look for a campsite in the meadows near the stream. This is a beautiful setting in which to set up a base camp for day trips into nearby lake basins.  Those basins include Campfire Lake at the head of the Middle Fork on Trail 123 and Sunlight Lake at the upper end of the North Fork on Trail 273. Another excellent and somewhat closer base camp to the high take basins would be another 1.5 to 2 miles downstream at the confluence of the Middle and South forks of Sweet Grass Creek.