Lost Lake, Montana
Lost Lake, Montana.
Lost Lake is located north-east of Highwood, Montana in the Shonkin area. I visited the area in June of 2019. Lost Lake is part of a larger area known as the Shonkin Sag and was formed from the draining waters of the Glacier Lake Great Falls. The cliffs and the depression where the lake is now, was formed as melting glacier water gouged out the prairie as is flowed south-east into what is now the Judith River. The whole area of the Shonkin Sag is now pot marked with small lakes as well as geologic feature similar to those around Lost Lake including the Shonkin Sag Laccolith. If you want to know more about the Shonkin Sag I would recommend reading about it from this link to Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shonkin_Sag
The cliffs that remain surrounding Lost Lake are over 300 feet high and a half a mile across. When the water was pouring over the falls, they would have been more than double the size of Niagara Falls. On the rim of the cliffs there are a few hoodoos that reminded me of the ones at Rock City. If you are interested, please check out my page about Rock City for more information about that location.
Lost Lake is located on private property but at the time of this writing is accessible to the public. The roads leading into Lost Lake are gravel, but if conditions are good a 4 wheel drive is not required to visit the site. Besides the lake and the cliffs, there are a lot of birds that nest in the cliffs to make for some good photography and bird watching opportunities. There are no services at the location and a short hike across the prairie is required to reach the cliffs, so watch for cow pies as this is a working cattle ranch. As of the summer of 2020 the land owners have removed public access to the site. This is a very sad developement, but I understand as the site was being abused by irresponsible people. If they decide to open it back up in the future I will try to update this information.
If you want more information about Lost Lake, feel free to contact me via my Contact page above.
A pano looking south from the north rim of Lost Lake. You can see the cliffs, the lake and the tips of the High Wood Mountains in the background.
A hawk flying against the cliffs of Lost Lake.
Some of the rock formation on the rim above the cliffs at Lost Lake.
Another pano of Lost Lake looking a little more south-east down the lake.
There are many birds that nest in the cliffs surrounding Lost Lake, including this swallow.
Lost Lake is on private property on a working cattle ranch. If you visit the area please be respectful so the site will continue to stay open for everyone to enjoy. *Note, as of June 2020 this site is no longer accessible to the public.