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Lost Creek Falls/Lost Lake & Lost Lake/Petrified Tree Loop
This is a delightfully diverse walk to several 'lost' places. The Lost Creek Falls hike is one of the shortest walks to a beautiful waterfall in the park. Lost Lake is a lovely place to find yourself. If you’d like a longer walk, a loop trail presents fine views of a petrified tree and the Absaroka and Beartooth mountains. See Plate 6.
Lost Creek Falls/Lost Lake
Level of difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 2 miles round trip (3.2 km)
Elevation change: A gain of 360 feet in 0.6 mile
Duration: 1 - 2 hours
Lost Lake/Petrified Tree Loop
Level of difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 3.5-mile loop (5.6 km)
Elevation change: A total gain of 600 feet
Duration: 2 - 3 hours
Best time of year: June through September (during the cooler morning and evening hours).
Trailhead: This hike begins directly behind Roosevelt Lodge, which is located at Tower Junction. As an alternative, this loop trail can also be hiked originating from the Petrified Tree parking area, 1.4 miles (2.6 km) west of Tower Junction.
Hiking directions: From the trailhead register behind Roosevelt Lodge, the trail immediately forks. To go to Lost Creek Falls, take the left fork, which leads gradually uphill for 0.2 mile to the falls. After viewing the falls, retrace your steps to the trailhead. To go to Lost Lake, take the fork to the right, which crosses the creek and winds up 360 feet in 0.6 mile in a series of switchbacks. At the top of the hill, turn right at the trail junction. In 0.2 mile, you’ll reach Lost Lake. If you’re not making the loop trail via the petrified tree, return to the trailhead by the same route.
If you plan to make the loop to the petrified tree, continue beyond Lost Lake. The trail bends to the right, following a creek through a narrow ravine. The ravine soon opens up at the parking area for the petrified tree. The trail skirts the end of the parking area and veers to the right, climbing 200 feet away from the parking area, up a steep hill. It continues across a sagebrush plateau. Proceed straight until the trail begins to wind down through the forest to the Tower Ranger Station area. Once in the service area behind the ranger station, locate the orange markers across the creek and follow them up to the cabins at Roosevelt Lodge.
Special attention: Black bears are known to frequent this area during the summer months. Be alert and make noise if at any point you can’t see clearly in all directions. Also, groups on horseback use this trail regularly. If you encounter such a group, move off to the downhill side of the trail until they pass.
Naturalist notes: Don’t miss the remarkable short ramble up to Lost Creek Falls. Take the left fork of the trail and walk along Lost Creek as it cascades joyfully around and over large granite boulders on its way down from the falls. The Douglas-fir trees that fill this narrow canyon provide a pleasant shade over the rocky trail as it ascends gradually for a mere 0.2 mile. Geologist William Holmes named this stream in 1878: 'I have called it Lost Creek, because it apparently sinks from sight in the lower part of its course… The creek is clearly in evidence here as it drops gracefully, 40 feet, to the canyon below. Rock pinnacles line the canyon like the turrets of a castle, guarding the secret of this delightful spot.'
Once back at the trailhead, take the right fork to reach Lost Lake. The trail crosses a footbridge over Lost Creek and climbs up a series of switchbacks. Once a deep forest with a luxuriant understory, many of the Douglas-fir trees on this hill succumbed to an infestation of the western budworm in the 1970s and were later removed when they became a safety hazard to hikers.
At the top of the hill, turn right at the junction. The trail crosses a footbridge over a creek before bending left toward the lake. What will impress you first as you approach Lost Lake is the rich wetland that precedes it, and then, the lilypads that line its shores. Imagine a flower adapted to live suspended on the surface of the water! A long stem or rootstalk acts like a straw, reaching down into the mud on the bottom of the lake, bringing the large green leaves and showy yellow flowers all the nutrients they need to survive."
-pages 39 & 40, Chapter 6