Twin Lakes: North Meadow Creek in the Tobacco Roots

Off-Road & Trails
Written by Aaron Thies

Montana • Tobacco Root Mountains • June 2018

Twin Lakes:Fog, Boulders and Snow

North Meadow Creek to Twin Lakes in the Tobacco Roots: a foggy lake camp at dawn, five miles of boulders through the timber and a high lake under snowy peaks.

Misty mountain lake at dawn with lily pads, pine forest and a peak lit by early sun on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Lake Fog — Boulder Trail — Rooftop Tents — June Snow — Never Lift — Lake Fog — Boulder Trail — Rooftop Tents —

Late June, High Country

The last weekend of June 2018, a few of us headed up a long gravel road into the mountains for a night at a lake and a run up the North Meadow Creek trail to Twin Lakes in the Tobacco Root Mountains the next day. My tan FJ Cruiser was still in plain paint then, before the stripes, with an orange rooftop tent on top. And riding along was Finn, my first griffon.

View through a windshield of a gravel road heading across open hills toward distant snowy mountains on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
The road in.
Silver Toyota 4Runner and tan FJ Cruiser with roof racks parked side by side in a sunny meadow on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Staging in the meadow.

Camp on the Lake

Camp was a grassy spot on a small lake ringed with timber and lily pads. Rooftop tents went up, Finn went in the water and the sun went down behind the ridge.

The next morning, the lake was glass and the fog was lifting off the water. That’s the whole reason to camp up here.

Blue 4Runner with a hard-shell tent and a tan FJ Cruiser with an orange rooftop tent at a forest camp on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Tents up.
Tan FJ Cruiser with an open orange rooftop tent and ladder parked near a lake in the pines on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
The FJ in 2018: no stripes yet, orange tent.
Still mountain lake with fog drifting across the water and pines reflected on the surface on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Morning fog.
Peak and forest reflected in a misty lake with logs in the foreground on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Mirror.
Peak lit orange at sunrise above a dark forest and a calm lake with a camp on the far shore on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
First light on the peak.
Wirehaired Pointing Griffon wading in a still lake with ripples spreading around it on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Finn, first one in the water.
Wirehaired Pointing Griffon standing in shallow lake water near floating logs on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Finn, fishing unofficially.

The Trail

After a dirt road through the trees, a yellow winding-road sign marks where things get serious. From there, the North Meadow Creek trail to Twin Lakes is a rocky, boulder-strewn track through tight timber, with loose rock, ledges, mud holes and logs. onX lists it at about 5.4 miles and rates it moderate, but notes you’ll be crawling over boulders for most of it with few bypasses, and strongly recommends rock sliders. It’s slow, and it’s the fun kind of slow.

Partway up, the trail forks. The other branch climbs to McKelvy, Mine and Cliff Lakes above 9,000 feet, and onX rates that one harder.

Silver 4Runner and tan FJ Cruiser on a muddy dirt road through a pine forest on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Easy part.
Yellow winding-road sign beside a rocky, boulder-strewn trail through dense pines on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
The sign means it.
Tan FJ Cruiser with lights on picking through boulders on a rocky trail in the timber on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
The FJ in the rocks.
Blue 4Runner climbing over rocks on a forested trail on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Blue 4Runner, same rocks.
Blue 4Runner flexing one front wheel high over a boulder on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Flex.
White third-generation 4Runner crawling down a rocky section with logs on the trail on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
A third-gen 4Runner.
Silver 4Runner driving through a muddy puddle on a forest trail on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Mud holes too.
Dark Toyota coming down a rocky section toward a spotter crouched on the rocks on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Spotters earn their beer.

The Lake at the Top

The trail tops out at a high lake under a ridge of snowy peaks. In late June, the snow was still hanging on, and the weather was making up its mind. We parked the trucks along the shore and stayed a while.

View through a windshield of a mountain lake with snowy peaks behind and a truck crossing a water channel on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
First look at the top.
Wide mountain lake below a ridge of snow-streaked peaks under scattered clouds on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Worth the rocks.
Four Toyotas lined up on the shore of a mountain lake below cloudy snow-capped peaks on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
The whole crew at the top.

Know Before You Go

Where. The North Meadow Creek trails are in the Tobacco Root Mountains near Pony. The Montana 4x4 Association maintains the McKelvy branch with the Forest Service’s Madison Ranger District.

Timing. Late June was early enough that the peaks still had snow and the weather turned fast. onX notes the McKelvy branch is generally passable just after the Fourth of July.

Vehicle. High clearance, real tires and rock sliders. The boulder sections are where a spotter pays off.

Camp. Pack in, pack out, and leave the lakeshore the way you found it.

More Montana trails: the road to Independence and Ringing Rocks.

Fog on the lake, rocks on the trail, snow on the peaks.

More From Twin Lakes

Toyotas parked on a lakeshore with storm clouds over snowy peaks on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
Close portrait of Finn, a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon with an orange collar, in green grass on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
White 4Runner side-on in a boulder field in the trees on the North Meadow Creek Twin Lakes trail in the Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana

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Aaron Thies
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