Cooke City and the Goose Lake Jeep Trail, 2019

Off-Road & Trails
Written by Aaron Thies

Montana • Cooke City • Summer 2019

Cooke Cityand Goose Lake

Bison on the way in, lakes and granite up top, and the Goose Lake jeep trail above Cooke City, from a 2019 trip.

Tan Toyota FJ Cruiser with red wheels in a green alpine basin with rocky peaks behind near Cooke City, Montana
Bison Jams — Alpine Lakes — Granite — Goose Lake — Beartooths — Never Lift — Bison Jams — Alpine Lakes — Granite —

The Long Way to the Trailhead

Cooke City sits at the end of the Beartooth Highway, just outside Yellowstone’s northeast corner. About 150 years ago, this was the New World Mining District, and the old mining roads that still crisscross the mountains are why it’s one of the best places in Montana to take a 4x4.

In summer 2019, we drove in through Yellowstone and spent a few days on the trails above town. The bison made sure we didn’t get there fast.

Bison herd grazing and resting in green grass beside a paved road in Yellowstone National Park
The welcoming committee.
View through a windshield of a bison walking down the center of a Yellowstone road
Right of way: bison.

Goose Lake

The Goose Lake jeep trail is the classic Cooke City run. onX lists it at about 8 miles and rates it moderate, doable in a stock vehicle with a careful driver. The tough spots are a steep section of big boulders (with a bypass over smaller ones), a tight corner into a shallow water crossing that can take a few points to turn a big rig, and a rocky stretch near the end where sliders and a spotter help.

The bigger issue is snow. onX notes the trail often holds snow late into summer and can be impassable into late July.

Dark 4Runner, white Land Cruiser 100 Series and red Land Rover Discovery lined up at a rocky trailhead in the trees near Cooke City, Montana
Lined up at the start.
Green Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser towing a small trailer through a rocky water crossing beside a pond near Cooke City, Montana
The FJ40 brought a trailer through the water. Show-off.
Red Land Rover Discovery climbing a rocky trail between granite boulders under a blue sky near Cooke City, Montana
The Discovery picking through the rocks.
Green FJ40 and another truck crossing a boulder-strewn hillside above a golden meadow near Cooke City, Montana
Small rigs, big country.

Lakes, Granite and Too Much Sky

Once you’re up on the plateau, it’s granite, snowfields and one lake after another. Every turn is a postcard, and you will stop at all of them.

Alpine lake reflecting clouds and jagged peaks, with granite rocks in the foreground near Cooke City, Montana
Glass.
Wide alpine lake below a row of jagged peaks with granite slabs in the foreground near Cooke City, Montana
The peaks behind the lake.
High overlook of a green basin dotted with blue lakes and forest, with a snowfield in the foreground near Cooke City, Montana
The view from up high.
Wide view of a high plateau with several lakes, forest and distant mountains under puffy clouds near Cooke City, Montana
Lakes all the way down.
View through a dusty windshield of a two-track crossing high tundra with snowfields and a distant valley near Cooke City, Montana
The road out, through a dirty windshield.
Green Toyota FJ40 with a small trailer parked in a meadow, a young wirehaired dog sitting in front near Cooke City, Montana
The FJ40 and a new trail dog.
Tan Toyota FJ Cruiser with a rear tire bag parked in a meadow beside a stream with peaks behind near Cooke City, Montana
The tan FJ, parked for lunch.

Camp

Camp was by a lake, and the sunsets did what Beartooth sunsets do.

Orange sunset glowing behind dark timber over a rippling alpine lake near Cooke City, Montana
Lights out.
Silhouetted trucks with a snorkel and roof rack under a fiery orange sunset sky near Cooke City, Montana
Sunset over camp.
Camp in the trees with a rooftop tent and awning beside a small creek near Cooke City, Montana
Home for the night.

Know Before You Go

Timing. Late July and August. Earlier than that and the high country may still be snowed in.

Wilderness boundary. The trails above Cooke City run right up against the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Vehicles stop where the road stops.

Grasshopper Glacier. If you’ve got extra time, Visit Yellowstone Country describes a four-mile hike from the end of a high-clearance road to a glacier where ancient insects were found frozen in the ice in 1914.

Bison. Give them the road. They’re not moving for you.

More from the area: Cooke City trips show up in Every Land Cruiser Generation in One Year and The FJ40s of 2026. For another Montana trail report, see The Road to Independence.

Young wirehaired dog with an orange collar standing on granite beside an alpine lake with snowy peaks near Cooke City, Montana
Boone, at about four months old.
Young wirehaired dog sitting on a granite boulder at the edge of an alpine lake below jagged peaks near Cooke City, Montana
Already a mountain dog.
Every turn is a postcard. Stop at all of them.

More From Cooke City

Yellow wildflowers in a meadow below a forested ridge and distant peaks near Cooke City, Montana
Trucks crossing a wide rocky alpine basin with snowfields and peaks near Cooke City, Montana
View through a windshield of a creek and lake below rocky peaks near Cooke City, Montana

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Aaron Thies
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