Silver Lake
It all begins with an idea.
Every year we have a family hike, usually around 60+ miles, this year was a little different though. This year we decided to venture into West Rosebud drainage. Day 1: Starting at Mystic Lake, we hiked up to Silver Lake and set up base camp. Not a bad hike, but it starts to feel long by the end. We power hiked there though, so it might not feel as long if you take your time. Day 2: We climbed up to Frenco, Beckworth and Nugget than dropped into Brown than back to silver. Day 3: Half the group hiked to Star than back to silver. Day 4 We hike out.
Frenco has a nice trail all the way but steep, good camping. Good fishing 8″-12″. Beckworth is an easy walk from Frenco, the trail crosses the inlet to Frenco than stays on the south side of the creek. Nugget is a little climb from beckworth recommend following stream, decent fishing 6″-8″. Brown was tricky to find, nice walking to about 1/4 miles to the lake than it gets steep and lots of downfall. We went straight down from there, found lots of huckleberries but it was not a fun trip out. Rain made the steep terrain slick, especially during the rocky parts. We were pretty lucky as we popped out of the timber almost right into our Basecamp. We might recommend following drainage? We will leave that up to you. Overall a very fun and easy day hike, especially if you decide to leave out Brown and return the way you came in. Good camping at all these lakes, although our top pick would be Frenco.
Star lake wore us out. There is a trail that leads from Silver to a beautiful overlook of a mountain valley (see picture below) then it vanishes. After that we decided to go straight down and follow the creek. It rained the whole way and the dense overgrowth made sure you stayed wet even during short breaks from the rain; it was not an easy hike for us. Took us 6 hours to get to star. Trails seem to appear then vanish in the overgrowth and the timber. Don’t waste your time searching for a trail like we did just use your navigation instincts and go. Possible camp spots on the south side but we where to tired to check. Might suggest coming down from goose to get to star.
