Cliff Lake Bench

This is one of those trails you rarely see anyone else on, which is a good opportunity for spotting critters. Today and elk hung out and watched as we drove by. Later in the year, there are usually large herds up here.

We hit many trails this afternoon looking for critters. We started out crossing the Madison River at Hutchins Bridge, heading up West Fork Madison to Standard Creek, turning left at Soap Creek, and following it through Flatiron Mountain and Freezeout Creek, making the loop back to Standard Creek. The trails were in great shape. Once back at Standard Creek Road, we were amazed to have seen nine deer on this short loop, so we decided to head back down Standard Creek to West Fork Madison, where we saw a doe and two tiny fawns, then up Jackpine Gulch to East Bench. We had to clear a couple of downed trees from East Bench; otherwise, there were no issues with this trail. We saw two more deer on the way in and hiked around the end of the trail for a few. It was a surprise looking through the charred tree at how close we were to Cliff Lake. Headed back out, we took Jackknife out to Cliff Lake Bench and watched the sunset. Driving out in the twilight, we saw a couple of elk and a few more doe and fawn. All in all, on this trip we saw 19 of these four-legged critters. That's usually pretty close to our tally for an entire summer. For one evening, that was amazing!

The Goose Fire area closure order was rescinded on October 7th, allowing the reopening of the following trails: Cliff Lake Bench Conklin Lake East Bench Elk Lake Jackknife Jackpine Gulch South Bench The condition of the affected trails is unknown and will be updated soon.

Due to the Goose Fire, the following trails have been temporarily closed: Conklin Lake Elk Lake Road beyond Elk Lake to Hidden Lake is closed Jackpine Gulch Jackknife Cliff Lake Bench South Bench East Bench EDIT: Updated closure map July 16, 2021 Currently, the West Fork Madison River is the edge of the closure area. The closure order with a map can be found here: Goose Fire Closure Order

Today was a busy day in the mountains. All the campsites we passed on the way to this trail were full and a lot of people out exploring the dusty roads. Cliff Lake Bench was a nice escape, was just us and the cows.

This trail is a nice drive out on the bluffs and in the meadows overlooking Sportsmans Paradise. We saw a herd of Elk this trip through, the wildflowers here are breathtaking. We saw one lone Coyote running through the fields as well.