Livingston Hiking Trails Report - July 1, 2025
With a warm start to summer, the high-country snows are melting quickly. Alpine hiking season is underway in southwest Montana, although snow persists in areas and many alpine lakes are still holding ice. Be sure to swing by the shop before your next adventure to gear up on everything from bear spray to boots, trekking poles, packs, technical apparel and more. Happy trails!
South Deep Creek has been cleared to the beginning of the second meadow, and the trail is completely dry up to the upper end of the switchbacks. Above that are intermittent drifts in gullies (including one that's very steep - use caution,) with more constant snow in the last hundred yards to Davis Divide, but it's all hikeable.
Suce Creek loop is mostly clear and dry, with a few downed trees along the creek bottom (FS trail 44.) You may encounter a cow moose with a newborn calf or two, so be sure to give them plenty of room. Lots of midsummer flowers are a highlight, and include arnicas, geraniums, Woods' roses, and many others.
The Pine Creek Lake trail is clear and (mostly) dry as far as the logjam crossing at roughly the two-mile point. The water level here has dropped a fair amount over the past couple of weeks, and the creek is crossable with some caution as the current is still pretty strong. Wading shoes are helpful, but you're probably still going to get wet up to your knees. The trail is mostly dry above the crossing, but expect to see drifts increasing with elevation, and the lake will likely be frozen until the first week in July.
Passage Creek is clear and dry, and the small tributary is easily crossable on downed logs. With water levels still fairly high, the falls are now at their most impressive. There will be plenty of raspberries and thimbleberries here by late July, and this year's spring weather seems to have also been a boon for lodgepole sapling generation.
The Elbow Lake trail is clear and mostly dry at least to the Upper Sage Creek/Elbow Creek divide ridge. There was a large grizzly near the trailhead a week ago, and both black and grizzly bears are common in this drainage, so bring your bear spray.
The West Boulder trail has been dry for most of the past three months, but with warmer weather, an early start is a good idea. There's not much cover once you've crossed the footbridge, but the area is revegetating rapidly since the 2006 Jungle Fire. It pays to keep dogs close to you past the meadows to avoid a forest of houndstongue just past the meadows.