Lily Lake Dispersed Camping

I did not camp on Lake which is better for small rigs and driving is tight . Be careful that you dont drive down blind road to left near lake or you will have difficult time getting out . Beautiful lake with fishing . My site high on ridge with great view of Bear tooth MTNs. Road to CG is doable with TT but larger rigs will need to go very slowly. This is boondocking .

Lily Lake was on a list of a couple of sites for me to check out to stay while I was in the area I was a female camping alone and this place was great there are some sites that are up above the lake if you are traveling alone and a female I would suggest staying above as there is cell phone service. down at the lake there was none. It was very close to the north east entrance to Yellowstone about 35 miles from Lily lake campground. When you turn out of the campground and go to the left there is a bridge and a beautiful waterfall . Keep driving a little bit further in the same direction and on the left-hand side about 10 miles away is a hike up to a lookout tower called Clay Butte very nice hike to top of Hill with a beautiful view . Stock up on your supplies in Cody or whatever direction you’re coming from because there are really no options in the area . the closest place to get any supplies was about a 25 mile drive to cooke Montana. Very cute little town and worth it to go to but expensive to buy supplies. There are no facilities at Lilly lake campground except for a pit toilet near the lake. Very easy drive to get in.

We stayed late in the season (Oct 9, 2015 though the weather was great) and many other campgrounds were closed. This site is a couple miles north on the Beartooth Pass (212) - we were coming from Yellowstone's NE exit. The pass was already marked closed for the season but the first few miles were open, so that's how we stumbled across Lily Lake.

The ride up is a good road, though washboard. At the top are unbelievable views of surrounding mountains. There are some dispersed sites at the top which may work better for bigger rigs. Some hunters were staying there- they were super friendly and upped our affection for the site big time.

If you continue down to the right to the Lake, the official campsites are there. We tried but failed to get into the one closest to the lake. The boat ramp turnaround area looks bigger than it is - beware. The spots higher up were doable and lovely.

"Bear awareness" is high here- the hunters told us they regularly saw Grizzlies and wolves but thought they mostly stayed out of the campground. Bathroom was fine. Picnic tables, fire rings etc. unbelievable stars, as this CG is remote. Blissfully quiet. FREE! The lake is a great spot for wildlife watching- we saw a giant Elk lumber across.

No cell signal really to speak of though our AT&T did occasionally come in for a split second to let a text through.