Shoulder-season Beartooths trek

The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, the "roof top of Montana" bordering the north side of Yellowstone Park, is a mecca for backpackers with a yen for high-altitude routes and catching fish in alpine lakes even in the "shoulder season" after Labor Day. The key, as Outdoors editor Rich Landers points out in his story, Cold Shoulder, is to have a backup plan when the weather goes foul. These photos will take you through the lows and highs of a week-long trip as Landers and his two friends hike in to the wrath of stormy weather in the Beartooths before retreating to Cooke City, Mont., to dry out and enjoy wildlife watching in Yellowstone. When the weather clears, they head back into the wilderness to savor sunny days and great fly fishing at a number of lakes they explored. The Beartooths claim a lion’s share of the Treasure State’s high distinctions. Not only does it include Granite Peak, the highest point in the state at 12,799 feet, the wilderness of 943,648 acres also includes the 42 highest peaks in Montana and about 300 of the state’s 1,000 high-mountain fishing lakes.

Section:Gallery

Sat., Sept. 28, 2013

Yellowstone cutthroat trout stocked in many of the 300-some high lakes of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness are a major attraction for backpackers heading into Montana's highest mountain plateau.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Backpackers found an idyllic scene from their first-night campsite on Peanut Lake (also known as Sliver Lake) in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness of Montana on Sept. 16, 2013.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Two after packing in to this campsite, backpackers their idyllic campsite on Peanut Lake (also known as Sliver Lake) changing its mood in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness of Montana in September 2013.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Backpackers found this dragonfly clinging to their food-hanging rope the evening before a snowstorm hit the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in September 2013.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Al Goldner and Scott Wolff, right, laugh up a storm in their tent as they endure the first in a series of four thunder and hail storms that hit their camp on Sept. 18, 2013 in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness of Montana.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Wet snow greets backpacker Scott Wolff of Duluth, Minn., as he emerges from his tent at Sliver Lake in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont., on Sept. 18, 2013.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Anglers who backpack into the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness of Montana should be ready for good fishing, and the possibility of snow any month of the year.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
New snow greets hikers heading into the upper reaches of Sky Top Creek in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont., on Sept. 18, 2013.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Being as sure-footed as a mountain goat is helpful in reaching remote lakes in the rocky country of the Beartooth Range -- where the goats are commonly found -- in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Al Goldner fords Sky Top Creek, which was swollen with runoff from rain, hail and snow storms that hit the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in mid-September 2013.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Al Goldner wrings out his socks after fording Sky Top Creek, which was swollen with runoff from rain, hail and snow storms that hit the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in mid-September 2013.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Scott Wolff wrings out his socks after fording Sky Top Creek, which was swollen with runoff from rain, hail and snow storms that hit the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in mid-September 2013.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Scott Wolff takes soaking from the snow-turned rain as he retreats from the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness as storms douse the area in mid-September 2013.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Scott Wolff uses logs spanning Sky Top Creek for one of many stream crossings and fords required for hiking on trails and cross-country in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
After bad weather forced them out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, backpackers switched to their backup plan -- day-hiking and wildlife watching in Yellowstone National Park. Here Scott Wolff chats with wildlife-viewing tourists from The Netherlands as they lunch with a view of bison in the distance.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
After bad weather forced them out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, backpackers switched to their backup plan -- day-hiking and wildlife watching in Yellowstone National Park. Here a herd of bison slows traffic on the road between Gardner and Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Yellowstone National Park rangers bar traffic on a street in the Mammoth area to keep visitors away from a bull elk that had been ramming vehicles with its antlers as he defended his harem of cow elk during the September mating season. After bad weather forced them out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in mid-September, 2013, backpackers switched to their backup plan -- day-hiking and wildlife watching in Yellowstone National Park.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
A pronghorn buck chases a doe near the Lamar River of Yellowstone National Park during the September mating season. After bad weather forced them out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, backpackers switched to their backup plan -- day-hiking and wildlife watching in Yellowstone National Park.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
A grizzly bear sighting in Yellowstone National Park on Sept. 19, 2013, quickly attracts a crowd of wildlife watchers and photographers along a road in the Lamar Valley. After bad weather forced them out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in mid-September, 2013, backpackers switched to their backup plan -- day-hiking and wildlife watching in the park.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
A grizzly bear sighting in Yellowstone National Park on Sept. 19, 2013, quickly attracts a crowd of wildlife watchers and photographers along a road in the Lamar Valley. After bad weather forced them out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, backpackers switched to their backup plan -- day-hiking and wildlife watching in the Park.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
A bull elk bugles near the Mammoth area of Yellowstone National Park during the September elk mating season. After bad weather forced them out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, backpackers switched to their backup plan -- day-hiking and wildlife watching in the Park.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
A bull elk gathers his harem in the Lamar River Valley of Yellowstone National Park, where the mid-1990s re-introduction of gray wolves has greatly reduced elk numbers. This is one of the many scenes the group of backpackers enjoyed after bad weather forced them out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in mid-September. Their backup plan -- day-hiking and wildlife watching in the park -- worked out beautifully.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
A bull elk gathers his harem in the Lamar River Valley of Yellowstone National Park, where the mid-1990s re-introduction of gray wolves has greatly reduced elk numbers. This is one of the many scenes the group of backpackers enjoyed after bad weather forced them out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in mid-September. Their backup plan -- day-hiking and wildlife watching in the park -- worked out beautifully. Then, as the storms cleared a day later, the hikers headed back into the wilderness.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
When thunder and snow storms cleared two days after forcing them out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in mid-September, the group of fly-fishing backpackers departed from their backup plan of wildlife watching in Yellowstone National Park and headed back into the wilderness from the Cooke City, Mont., area's Clay Butte Trailhead.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Returning to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in mid-September, the group of fly-fishing backpackers found the air crisp and the shorelines of shallow waters covered with ice.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Scott Wolff of Duluth, Minn., casts a fly while fishing for brook trout and cutthroats in Native Lake while backpacking in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont., on Sept. 20, 2013.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Yellowstone cutthroat trout are stocked in some of the high mountain lakes in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
In a day of exploring, hikers can pass dozens of ponds and lakes in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Al Goldner of Corvallis, Ore., organizes his hear as he day hikes from his base camp to fishing lakes on the Beartooth Plateau during a September backpacking-fishing trip in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Bear-resistant food canisters help backpackers store food safely in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, where black bears and grizzies roam and camps often are above treeline where finding a good place to hang food out of a bear's reach can be difficult. This group of backpackers tested the yellow Counter Assault containers, left, but tended to prefer the clear and lighter BearVault containers, right.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Al Goldner and Scott Wolff hike along Martin Lake during a day-hike from a base camp to sample several fishing lakes in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Al Goldner of Corvallis, Ore., climbs talus slopes above elevation 10,000 feet toward Cloverleaf Lakes on the Beartooth Plateau during a September backpacking-fishing trip in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Al Goldner approaches Rachel Lake as he climbs above elevation 10,000 feet toward Cloverleaf Lakes on the Beartooth Plateau during a September backpacking-fishing trip in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Backpacking fly fishers approach one of the three Cloverleaf Lakes, which are above 10,000 feet elevation on the Beartooth Plateau in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Al Goldner releases a Yellowstone cutthroat caught on a fly at one of the three Cloverleaf Lakes, which are above 10,000 feet elevation and beyond timberline, in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Backpacking fly fishers look for Yellowstone cutthroat in another one of the three Cloverleaf Lakes, which are above 10,000 feet elevation and beyond timberline on the Beartooth Plateau, in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Al Goldner and Scott Wolff hike along a stream connecting two fishing lakes during a day-hike from a base camp to sample trout-holding waters in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Some of the Yellowstone cutthroats are on the skinny side in the nutrient poor higher alpine lakes on the Beartooth Plateau in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Al Goldner and Scott Wolff hike along a stream connecting two fishing lakes during a day-hike from a base camp to sample trout-holding waters in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Scott Wolff returns to base camp after a day-hike to sample trout-holding waters in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Al Goldner and Scott Wolff hike past an unnamed lake as they return to base camp after a day-hike to sample trout-holding waters in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
With another storm system moving in, backpacking fly fishers Al Goldner and Scott Wolff leave their base camp after returning to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness and head out to the Clay Butte Trailhead near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
A mule deer doe and two fawns greet backpacking fly fishers as they leave the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Cooke City, Mont.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Scott Wolff leaves the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness after week of storms and sunshine: just what one might expect during a September backpacking and fly fishing trek near Cooke City, Mont. The 11,000-12,000 foot peaks of the rocky Beartooth Plateau stand above treeline in the background.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review