Crater Mountain Hike - Lincoln

This is a true gem of a hike! You start by climbing a 500 ft. mountain. It gets fairly steep near the summit. At the top, you get an amazing 360 view of the area. If you continue walking along a ridge to the edge of a cliff, all of a sudden you feel like you are walking on the moon. The terrain of the cliffs is rocky and scree-like. This can be done with kids and dogs, but be careful especially along the cliffs, as it is your discretion with the tall drop offs. Once past the cliffs, if you continue down the ridge to the bottom there is a marshy area full of tall grasses, some water, and a beautiful green valley to explore. We started to follow Humbug Creek and found most of it was dried up, so we would recommend continuing along the ridge and then climbing up a bit to the road that will then lead you back to the campsite. We did our best to show where we hiked in the map provided.

While this is not an actual trail, this is an easy hike, most of it is on dry grass dirt, and rocks. However, if you drop into the valley, there is vegetation, so if you would like to remain low impact on the terrain you can climb to the summit of Crater Mountain and turn around and head back down. Really, there is a lot to offer in this area, but this adventure may test your limits if you are used to hiking on an existing trail.

This adventure is slightly more challenging to find! This area can be accessed from either Lincoln or Helena. We took Stemple Pass Rd. out of Lincoln and followed the gravel road to the Stemple Pass Trailhead. From there, we headed north on an unnamed road and kept left until we found a logging road to turn left on to find an old national forest dispersed campsite. Here, with a little manuevering around branches and stumps within the tall grasses, we were able to park our 22 ft. long trailer and our truck. Please pay attention to fire danger, as we did park in very tall dry grass. The area is full of old logging roads which could be good for use of ATV vehicles and I believe the area near Stemple Pass Trailhead is known for cross-country skiing.