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Lava Lake Trail Virtual Hike in Montana's Madison Range - Virtual Treadmill Walking Video
Mar 17, 2025
There are a ton of trails around but many of them are long and steep and sometimes not that accessible. Lava Lake Trail in the Gallatin Valley between Bozeman and Big Sky, Montana is very doable. It's about 6 miles round trip and pretty steep but you start out next to the Gallatin River and end up at a gorgeous alpine lake encircled by mountains. In our case, we actually start at the lake and work our way down. It was an invigorating walk up but I wanted to spare you the huffing and puffing that went with it. This is a LONG one for me. about an hour and twenty three minutes, BUT, it's also a very pretty walk. I hope you enjoy it and thanks to all of you and especially our Patreon Supporters. -H
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:02
good morning walkers and welcome to lava lake montana
0:08
uh we're gonna give you some details here but first i'm gonna go down and give you a better view of the lake and i
0:14
will get back into it not the lake of course the information
0:45
yes
0:59
some happy water dogs plan um so
1:05
here's the information usually started out with my name is henry i am your proxy walker today your virtual travel
1:11
guide whereas i more accurately say your co-explorer
1:17
today we are at lava lake as i mentioned which is a trail off of the gallatin canyon
1:24
and we'll end up down at the gallon river assuming the battery lasts um
1:31
i am huffing and puffing a little bit because it's 7 100 feet here a little over about 2
1:37
100 meters it's 75 degrees fahrenheit 24 degrees celsius supposed
1:43
to get up to 97 fahrenheit which i think is 36 degrees celsius
1:49
so i it's about what 10 30 in the morning started out about nine from the
1:54
trailhead left my house about 8 15 in livingston and we're going to make our way around
2:01
here around the shore a little bit see some different views and then we'll head down the trail to the calton river
2:08
and the trailhead and i'll talk a little bit on the way but mainly it'll be nice nature ambiance
2:16
not quite asmr but pretty close um what else i was gonna say oh yeah so
2:23
it's a three mile trail a little over a little under somewhere in there um
2:28
but 1600 feet of elevation gain i can't do the i guess that's probably what
2:35
500 meters somewhere in there um
2:40
so i guess i can do the calculation we're gonna go through this all these massive granite boulders here
2:48
i've actually done this hike in winter as well and it can be really beautiful we did it with some kids
2:53
a couple families worth of kids and uh it was snowing and foggy and
2:58
everything on the way up and we got up here it all opened up the lake was frozen i'm gonna keep on going down over here a little bit
3:06
and just a gorgeous afternoon very cool go down here
3:13
peek out over the lake again it's a fairly popular trail
3:19
uh the parking lot the trailhead parking lot holds about i don't know maybe 20 cars
3:25
and it was completely full at 9 00 am but there is some other parking out on
3:32
the highway lots of space out there usually but it does get popular
3:38
so get an early start bring your bear spray bring water bring bug spray
3:45
in the summer anyway here we go
3:51
oh look at all this absolutely gorgeous out here
3:56
yeah uh we are in the gallatin range
4:01
i believe are we no gallons or the madisons i can never really remember
4:07
um and i get a little photo
4:12
here sorry that's not right
4:19
anyway you can see i'll show you the water here how clear the water is
4:29
lots of people out here swimming after a hot hike up you can also camp up here
4:34
water is pretty chilly but not as chilly as i would have expected here at the end of july
4:43
very last day of july and we'll just walk along the bank here
4:48
see what we can see uh i think we hiked up here a little winter before last
4:55
and uh that was only this the only other time i've been here was like
5:00
20 years ago so i'm glad to have rediscovered this place for myself
5:06
obviously not the first person up here pardon me
5:28
take another pan over here somebody got some labs over there
5:38
look at those mountains out there just gorgeous
6:14
it's funny how clearly the voices carry over the water i've always you know they tell you that
6:20
in grade school but it's interesting to see it
6:26
in use or experience it i guess some nice aspen down
6:32
there people making their way down to the lake
6:38
uh like i said the trail was busy not too busy wasn't packed but definitely
6:44
a lot of other folks and when i say i got up here in an hour a little over an hour
6:50
i was kind of huffing it because i wanted to get a good start before
6:55
it got too hot and i knew i'd be taking a slower
7:01
walk down beautiful day today though
7:09
some wildflowers
7:15
nice can hear some chipmunks or squirrels
7:23
squeaking away i love the rock formations up in here
7:48
it's really nice to dip your legs in
7:53
the water after hiking up here
8:07
another peek at the water
8:14
the other thing i want to show you is this little guy here it's one little flower in here
8:19
tucked in among the rocks and then this beautiful lichen is pretty
8:24
cool too this sort of light green speckling
8:30
it's really cool all right i want to avoid other people but i want to get the
8:38
good
8:48
views over there
8:56
excuse me just gonna swing by here thanks
9:13
oh rock hopping look at all this rock here i guess it was pushed down here probably by
9:20
a back in the day that's pure speculation
9:25
but loving this lava lake
9:31
all right and i don't want to pan too fast here's another wild flower
9:39
a little guy i wish i love this camera which is the
9:45
osmo pocket 2. i do wish it had a macro feature without
9:51
you can get special lens adapters which are great
9:56
but sometimes i wish i could get in close on those uh flowers but i think it's a
10:03
a laws of physics thing [Music]
10:08
they had to make a lot of compromises to have these cameras be affordable and
10:14
do as much as they do and i certainly love this little camera but uh
10:22
you know there's no one tool for everything
10:27
look at all this old wood that's been pushed up down here over the years
10:36
you can see the view here somebody's swimming
10:44
oh i love it up here man
10:49
um it's easy to look check this out sorry more panning
10:55
but you can see i assume in the win in the spring water
11:01
melt runoff comes in here pushes this wood down here this dead wood but then it comes out and it falls down
11:07
lava creek and you can see the steepness of it right there it's of
11:13
course not running today late summer mid to late summer
11:18
but the actual creek there's another creek that is running we'll walk along that later
11:27
um i was going to say coming up here today like this in the morning not too many people up
11:33
here you see why people come to montana
11:38
especially southwest montana it's a beautiful place you don't have to
11:45
yellowstone is absolutely amazing but there's so much other stuff around here
11:50
to see and do
11:56
all right we're on our on the trail down
12:02
uh thank you to our patreon supporters i like to do that early on i was
12:08
so focused on the lake that i forgot to do that but thank you guys i appreciate your support financial
12:14
support but also your moral support and all the lovely comments and the kind of relationship
12:21
i've built up with some of you very much appreciated and very enjoyable to me so
12:30
if you if anybody else wants to know more about the patreon supporting thing there's link
12:36
down in the youtube description certainly not required but always appreciated
12:46
hi there
12:52
it's definitely a steep trail i think i mentioned it's three miles and
12:57
1600 feet but it's a good trail and totally doable for anybody in
13:05
decent shape hi pup hi there
13:10
hi good how are you guys doing good
13:29
so i think it'll be much shorter well i'm sure a little shorter on the way down
13:36
it's a lot easier on the way down it is a very rocky trail
13:42
and i've seen several people with trekking poles which i i can't really use when i'm filming
13:49
as much i guess i could use one but i kind of like the trekking poles i used to think oh no i used to poo poo
13:56
them a little bit but they certainly take a little bit off the knees
14:03
and ankles and give just a little bit extra balance and support
14:18
oh that's right here's the creek it is running actually
14:26
um i looked on alltrails.com about this and said there might be moose in here
14:32
um never really heard about them being in here i mean they certainly
14:37
would be in this habitat it's such a busy trail
14:43
um that i don't know you might see him in the mornings
14:53
i love the dappled light in here as well
15:13
my uh wife traveling mel aka and oldest son just got back from a road
15:20
trip where they were doing state high points and they were doing a lot a couple of
15:25
them were like kansas and nebraska where you just drive up to a little marker excuse me
15:31
but they also did utah colorado and new mexico which were
15:36
pretty significant hikes and pardon me it's kind of a smoky day today so i'm
15:42
a little congested um in south dakota as well
15:48
and so they despite all the time in the car the driving between all those places they've been doing some good hiking
15:56
and getting in shape for our uh italy trip the first month of which is
16:03
going to be in the dolomites hiking so i need to get in shape as well
16:10
because we're going to do part of the what's called the altavia ii
16:16
excuse me we're going to go hut to hut and i'm hoping to do a significant amount of filming
16:23
along that route share some of that with you guys
16:29
i think the first time i walked this trail if i had the right trail again 20 years ago is when i first moved out here
16:36
and it was in the winter and i guess it had some melting or
16:42
something it was in the spring um anyway it was super icy it was like an ice
16:48
shoot luckily i had my little ice yak tracks and i don't think i got all the way up
16:54
but at some point i just gave up but it was
17:00
it was uh quite slippery
17:12
morning
17:26
hi there
17:40
it's steep enough that i have to remember to tilt the camera down to show part of the trail
17:58
one of the things i like to ask as part of the interaction part of this channel is to
18:04
get your guys opinion on um preferences do you like the nature trails do you prefer
18:10
city walks specifically another channel is called citywalks but we only have so many cities in
18:17
montana pardon me
18:23
there's a fire about 30 miles to the west of us forest fire
18:30
and despite the numbers sheer numbers of fires in montana this year really hasn't been so bad yet
18:36
i think there's a couple big ones up near kalispell right now but there's a mild smoky haze in the air
18:44
and uh leads to congestion for me anyway
18:53
it's been an unusually dry wet year this year too wet for us and
18:59
the paradise valley for a day or two with the flooding but
19:05
it's also led to decreased fire this year at least here
19:12
and certainly last year was a bad year for fires all over the west
19:22
but we have a little reprieve this year
19:27
thanks buddy
19:33
hey there excuse me all right
19:42
guys
19:48
hi there hey buddy hi there
19:54
it's always a little awkward when group comes up and i've got this camera
19:59
and they got a bunch of kids and i don't really want to film them but
20:04
hard to avoid sometimes hi there
20:09
[Applause]
20:28
so
20:40
morning
20:59
i would say that one of the downsides of this trail few downsides is that because it's
21:06
it's both a bug and a feature i guess is because it's so forested the views even though it's really steep
21:12
or oh look at this rose sorry squirrel um
21:18
look at that pretty uh it's hard to get some good views out over the valley which would be
21:24
spectacular if we could peak our head through the trees but it's
21:30
also a feature because it's such a nice experience so relaxing just to walk through the woods
21:36
in the forest you can kind of get a glimpse of the mountains across the way
21:44
ridges over there i think that's uh look out over there
21:50
there's a fire lookout for service cabin you can rent if you're lucky enough to
21:57
find it available
22:21
hi there
22:51
you bet
23:00
some backpackers
24:09
just uh i'm gonna peek over the edge here i don't know if you can get a sense of how steep
24:14
this slope is
24:22
it's nice to have these trails carved out of the mountain
24:28
hi there excuse me
24:34
hi
24:40
oops got the tilt wrong on that
24:59
you can kind of see the trail down there backpacking friends
25:14
oh that's uh just kind of used to it at this point thanks
25:28
he was commenting on my footwear which is
25:34
tacos um and on
25:39
if i was backpacking i wouldn't do this probably but you kind of get used to
25:46
used to them they break in on your feet i would never do it in brand new chocolates because
25:51
we're first part of the year because they always seem to blister up early on
25:57
um but you know they've got gross and crusty with my
26:04
foot sweat sorry um and now they are fine
26:11
well they last these things are put in a lot of miles
26:17
and uh they're getting on there toward the end of their life
26:23
i think i've had the straps replaced once
26:29
but they they don't really owe me anything you know i've gotten a lot of great use out of them
26:51
it kind of opens up gets bright i kind of like the shade at this point
26:56
gets of course gets warmer as we go down
27:04
the heat i think i mentioned this before but the heat out here excuse me can be
27:12
90 degrees 95 degrees fahrenheit and not too bad if you're in the shade
27:18
if you're in the sun and it's 80 it can be absolutely brutal
27:25
there's just not a lot between not a lot of atmosphere between you and the sun and it
27:30
can be searing i'm also
27:36
grown soft when it comes to hot temperatures
27:41
out here i've acclimated a little too much to the
27:47
cool air dry air
28:55
another thing about this hike which is nice you have water that beautiful lake lava lake at the top
29:01
and we'll end up right along the galton river so you can dip your feet at the top and
29:07
you can dip your feet at the bottom and we'll assuming the battery holds out which it
29:12
should um we will do that
29:19
it's one of the most beautiful canyons um that you could that you could see the
29:26
downside of the canyon the river corridor is that there's a federal highway all along it that gets a
29:32
lot of traffic um and it grants access to
29:39
big sky montana and but hi there
29:46
in a lot of second homes but and to the river but
29:51
it wouldn't bother me too much if it uh i hear some water here
29:57
yes how clear that is just i love the mossy
30:05
stuff here i had a channel that i haven't done much with called amazing nature relaxation i think
30:12
i've changed the names a couple times but um and just sort of these long form
30:19
relaxation videos go out film a natural scene and
30:24
put it up on youtube and that would be perfect for it
30:34
but i haven't posted to that for a while pardon my my throat clearing my fun
30:41
phlegmatic nature
30:48
hi there no worries no worries hi
31:19
kind of need to keep an eye on the trail uh because it's so rocky and you want to
31:24
make sure you've got good footing but it's nice to look up every once in a while at the trees in the sky
31:31
got a holistic view of the area
31:50
creek has picked up some water and some force
32:15
[Applause]
32:20
oops [Applause]
32:36
all right some other backpackers here i'll let them pass
32:49
hi there
33:02
you can see these boulders have been tumbled down here
33:08
there's another family hi there
33:14
good how are you
33:21
feel the at least call that feel the baby burn i'm holding your kid like that for an
33:26
hour or two and your biceps start to burn a little bit
33:48
uh yeah you can if you want to anywhere in here oh i thought that you think people would backpack yeah you can go
33:54
strike a camp in the national forest so like anywhere pretty much
34:02
yeah that's not entirely accurate i think you have to stay away certain distance from
34:08
the lake but um pretty much true
34:27
um
35:19
i do love taking a look at this creek here all this down timber that blocks it up
35:26
and traps other logs and sticks and leaves and needles all that is
35:32
good nutrients for insects insects feed fish fish feed
35:39
all sorts of things especially osprey and uh
35:45
and some mammals hi there
35:53
and of course they're uh they're fun to catch too
37:36
oh here's the bridge
37:56
some folks getting water
38:06
just just to know you definitely want to filter your water here
38:15
as these folks are doing lots of little
38:20
microbes in there that might put an end to your vacation
38:27
giardia being one of them
39:10
hi hi there
39:36
so
39:54
uh
42:35
so
43:00
um
45:26
hi there i'll slide past you real quick thanks
45:32
oh look at that that's a nice view in it
45:59
hey there how are you i'm great thanks hey buddy
46:05
i love seeing people out with their kids that's awesome
46:12
that's a little perambulation pontification that's why we have these
46:19
public lands i mean there's some corporate reasons commercial reasons around timber and
46:26
resources but also for public enjoyment right so
46:33
we all own these lands in the communal as communal property so but
46:39
we do have ownership and we have rights to use it with certain restrictions
46:46
and i encourage everybody to do so because you know one
46:52
people who use them protect them and two is healthy and three
47:00
i mean you might as well that's what they're here for
47:06
that's the end of my pontification well that one anyway no guarantees there won't be more
47:44
hey there thanks
47:55
either
48:15
the smell is really nice right now it's not too hot yet but it's starting to warm up
48:20
and you can smell the plants and the sap and the trees and the
48:28
whatever the rushing water puts off ions or water vapor
48:35
it's very aromatic and very enjoyable very pleasant
49:36
uh
52:30
oh thank you
53:22
so
53:43
hi there
53:54
there's a significant temperature change between the shady bits and the sunny bits
54:01
i think i mentioned something about that before
54:31
so
55:56
so
56:11
foreign
56:24
hi there
56:37
so
56:46
[Applause]
56:53
oh that's soothing i love it
57:07
[Applause]
57:18
[Applause]
57:26
um
57:48
hi there
57:55
[Applause]
59:04
[Applause]
1:00:46
um
1:01:16
hmm guess we're over an hour it's gonna be a long one today
1:01:22
you guys can always pause and come back if you'd like
1:01:31
i i thought about breaking it up but i don't think it really
1:01:36
lends itself to two walks
1:01:41
we still have a little ways to go whoa
1:01:52
i'll try to pick up my pace a little later
1:02:33
it's easy for me to let my wind my mind wander uh
1:02:38
off into never never land as i walk here
1:02:45
slip my subconscious my instinct
1:02:52
place my feet where they need to go mostly
1:04:00
hi there
1:04:40
[Applause]
1:05:24
oops that was an ankle turner
1:05:30
but i'm okay
1:05:39
hi there good thanks excuse me oh you're brave
1:05:46
i just rolled my ankle so maybe i'm foolish
1:07:56
hello pop-up
1:08:02
hi there happy dog how you doing good how are you good
1:08:08
all right
1:08:33
all right how you doing good thanks
1:09:22
hi there how's it going good how are you guys
1:09:34
thank you yeah yeah good thanks how are you
1:10:03
nothing really of interest up there it's just uphill
1:10:11
hi there you know thank you
1:10:26
all right sorry about all the panning
1:10:31
it's nice to look at the creek every once in a while all right
1:10:37
[Applause]
1:11:07
hi there hi hi
1:11:36
all right uh
1:12:44
hi there good thanks hi pup
1:13:53
see all this down timber it's come down over the years pretty old most of it you can tell by
1:13:59
how broken up it is it takes a while for the stuff to break
1:14:05
down like decades
1:14:16
it's pretty nice to have a trail cut through it without having to
1:14:21
blaze one yourself through all the down logs and stuff that's a lot of energy
1:14:32
starting to hear the road now the highway 191.
1:14:59
you can tell that we are almost there as well because there's a house or a cabin
1:15:06
i don't know what the legality is of these in terms of whether they're on a forest long-term
1:15:12
forest service lease sometimes they'll have a hundred year lease and they'll build a cabin they own the
1:15:18
building but not the land and sometimes there's in holdings where it's private land inside the national
1:15:25
forest or on the edge of it so i'm not sure where that one falls
1:16:43
oh you can start to smell the river too and hear it it's nice
1:17:56
hey hi there
1:18:12
hi there she basically
1:19:21
there you go
1:19:55
right
1:20:06
almost there you can see the river through the trees
1:20:44
oh happy dogs saw these guys on the way up
1:20:55
i'll just show you this
1:21:05
signage all right
1:21:11
oh here's a little parking lot
1:21:17
there's some more signage here maps etc
1:21:23
uh no camping within 200 feet of the lake which is nice
1:21:29
so this is the little parking lot there's a pit toilet
1:21:34
there's actually a space in here and then you get to the river and across
1:21:40
the way is the other parking lot where i parked and there's to the left here is like a
1:21:46
i don't know 200 yard driveway kind of thing
1:21:51
but really what i want to do and soak my feet in this river
1:21:57
oh my gosh it does oh it feels good um
1:22:04
this is the galton river you can see somebody down there fly fishing it's a
1:22:11
great fishing river uh a river runs through it a lot of scenes were filmed here
1:22:17
uh even though it's the story takes place over on the blackfoot near missoula
1:22:24
and it's beautiful thank you guys for joining me for this epically long walk at least for me
1:22:31
um how clean and pristine this water is um
1:22:36
it was a long one sixteen hundred feet of uh decline incline decline uh
1:22:43
and about 3.2 miles i think we will see you again soon not sure from
1:22:49
where but we'll see ya in the meantime stay cool
1:22:54
and keep on stepping
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