Crews will continue the search for a missing hiker lost in East Rosebud Creek since June 8, when the man and a traveling companion were crossing a precarious section below Rimrock Lake on the popular 26-mile Beaten Path trail.
Tom Kuntz, chief of Red Lodge Fire Rescue, is leading the search and recovery effort with help from the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office and Montana National Guard. Kuntz says ground crews and helicopters responded to area after the hiker was reported missing, but the search was suspended due to peak high water conditions and lack of visibility.
"The rapids are so rough and the water—they call it white water for a reason," Kuntz said. "You can't see into it. You can't see below it. There are giant boulders that are completely not visible. There are full trees that are in this creek that are not visible at all right now because they're all underwater. So anything going down that creek can get stuck in this stuff that's completely underwater."
Red Lodge Fire Rescue Public Information Officer Amy Hyfield said Tuesday that water levels dropped somewhat over the weekend and search crews will be flown in by the Yellowstone Co. Sheriff's Office helicopter to search the area by air and on the ground.
The hiker, whose identity has not been released, is the second person to be swept away by East Rosebud Creek in this section below Rimrock Lake.
Last July, 20-year-old Dylan Honnoll drowned after being swept away by the creek trying to cross in the same area below Rimrock Lake.
Kuntz says there have been anecdotal reports of other hikers finding themselves in dangerous situations at the crossing as well.
A bridge used to span the crossing, but was destroyed by catastrophic flooding across southcentral Montana in 2022.
Officials from the Custer Gallatin National Forest say some of the most extensive damage to the Forest happened in the East Rosebud Creek area, where roads, trails and bridges were damaged and destroyed, lakes washed out or changed size, and creek channels changed course.
In an email to Yellowstone Public Radio, the Forest Service says it plans to replace the bridge below Rimrock Lake in late summer or early fall of this year and expects repair work to flood damage in the region to take two to three more years.
"The Beartooth Ranger District office has been advising people not to take the Beaten Path as a through hike, but instead that it can be done as a there-and-back hike from either the East Rosebud Lake side or from the Clarks Fork Trail side for the few years and that they not plan to do the whole trail until after the bridge was installed," said officials from the Custer Gallatin National Forest. "Local businesses and hiking forums have also been advising people of the same information regarding area conditions and alternate opportunities."
The Forest Service will not close the East Rosebud Creek Trail and had previously posted signage at the trailheads indicating the bridge is out.
Kuntz says he is concerned about the crossing heading into the summer season and that hikers not familiar with the area may end up relying on out-dated information and maps.
"Asking locally before you go someplace is always a good idea," Kuntz said. "Has there been a fire? Is there a blow down? Is there some hazard that I might not know about by reading guidebooks or talking to people who have done it in years past because the situation has changed."
"And I think that's always a good recommendation when you're going into someplace that you're not familiar with," Kuntz said.
