Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Montana / Bitterroot Mountains

Big Creek Lake (Bitterroot Mountains)

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Bitterroot National Forest (Big Creek Trailhead near Victor)

Big Creek is a glacier-carved canyon on the Montana side of the Bitterroot Mountains, according to the American Hiking Society. The trail runs up the canyon into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness to Big Creek Lake, which sits at the back of the canyon below granite peaks.

It’s a long day in, about nine miles each way, and The Outbound says about half the climbing comes in the last two miles.

The hike

The Big Creek Trailhead is west of US 93 between Stevensville and Hamilton. The Forest Service’s directions from Hamilton: go north 14 miles on US 93, turn onto Curlew Orchard Road, and follow it about 5 miles to Big Creek Trailhead Road. The trailhead has parking for cars and horse trailers, a vault toilet, and a stock ramp, but no potable water. Big Creek Trail #11 leads into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.

The Outbound’s overnight guide gives about 9 miles one way and almost 2,000 feet of total gain. Big Creek runs beside much of the trail. The route crosses Beaver Creek on a log bridge, two dry creeks on small log bridges, and Big Creek again near the lake. Backcountry Post author Bryan Harwood, who went in March 2016, describes old-growth grand fir and cedar lower down; around mile 7, he writes, hikers “start emerging from the deep forests of the canyon” into views of granite cliffs. The Outbound says the final stretch climbs almost 1,000 feet in two miles, on log steps past large granite boulder faces.

Harwood describes the lake at the back of the canyon, with a granite moraine and peaks including Ranger Peak and Sky Pilot, and Packbox Pass visible from the cirque. On his early-season trip the lake was frozen and he needed snowshoes near the cirque.

The trail continues past the lake. The American Hiking Society’s 2020 volunteer project (later cancelled) planned to clear the well-used trail around Big Creek Lake to Packbox Pass and to work on the South Fork Big Creek Trail toward more glacial lakes.

For another Bitterroot canyon overnight to the south, see Blodgett Canyon. The Selway River Trail covers the Idaho side of the same wilderness.

Tips

Camping

No permit is needed for general travel in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, according to the Forest Service. Its rules: groups of 20 people and 20 stock or fewer (it recommends 10 to 12); camp at least 200 feet from rivers, streams, and trails where possible; no more than 16 consecutive days in one location. The Bitterroot National Forest food storage order applies on the Montana side from March 1 to December 1.

Inside Intel: The Outbound reports “designated camp sites are scattered around the lake.” For a closer camp, Harwood picked Tipi Rock, “an overhanging big rock” with room for gear and a fire ring and views of 2,000-foot cliffs, calling it “by far the greatest campsite in the Northern Bitterroot.” The American Hiking Society’s project page puts its Teepee Rock campsite about 5 miles in.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

A March night at Tipi Rock:

One Big Creek backpacker sheltered under an overhanging boulder through March rain. See the sleeping bags reviewers trust for shoulder seasons.

See what testers chose →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.