Dry Fork Ridge
- 17.8 mi
- round trip
- 3,505 ft
- climb
- 7,007 ft
- high point
- Out and back
- route
- Jun–Sep
- best months
Is Dry Fork Ridge open right now?
No closures listed
The Forest Service lists no closures for Bighorn National Forest.
As of · Source: USFS · Bighorn National Forest. Agencies don't list every closure — check before you go.
Dry Fork Ridge is a hard, 17.8-mile out-and-back hike on natural trail surface in the Tongue Ranger District of Wyoming's Bighorn National Forest. The route climbs from a low point of about 4,587 feet to a high point of about 7,007 feet, with a total elevation gain of about 3,505 feet, and it is open year-round. Summer is the most comfortable time to go. Typical July averages from the Burgess Junction weather station, about 14.6 miles away, reach a high of 71°F and a low of 42°F, and the station sits roughly 1,000 feet below the ridge. Winter is cold, with January highs around 30°F and lows near 8°F. The trail allows both horses and bikes. The closest neighbors are the Little Horn and Boyd Ridge hikes, each about 1.6 miles away. Paddlers can reach the Little Bighorn River about 4 miles off, and the Dry Fork Little Bighorn River is about 6 miles away.
- Little HornHiking1.6 mi
- Boyd RidgeHiking1.6 mi
Little Bighorn RiverCanoeingPhoto: Leonard J. DeFrancisci, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)4 mi- MillerHiking4.4 mi
- BULL ELK CUTOFFHiking5 mi
- FullerHiking5.5 mi
- Bull Elk ParkHiking5.7 mi
- Dry Fork Little Bighorn RiverCanoeing6 mi
Source: Roamze catalog (indexable pages within 10 miles, PostGIS distance)
HUDSON CREEKHiking · ~25 min drivePhoto: Bas van Oorschot, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)- BULL ELK CUTOFFHiking · ~9 min drive
- Bull Elk ParkHiking · ~10 min drive
Prune CreekHiking · ~31 min drivePhoto: David Haile, CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)- FullerHiking · ~9 min drive
- West Pass StockHiking · ~10 min drive
- Dry Fork RidgeHiking · ~9 min drive
- SMITH CREEKHiking · ~24 min drive
- Little HornHiking · ~11 min drive
- Freeze Out Stock TrailHiking · ~22 min drive
Also worth it near here
- Little Bighorn RiverCanoeing · ~7 min drivePhoto: Leonard J. DeFrancisci, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Tongue River Fishing EastRiver fishing · ~24 min drive
Bald Mountain CampgroundCamping · ~25 min drivePhoto: Bas van Oorschot, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)- Bear Claw Love Number 1 ReservoirLake fishing · ~28 min drive
Best time to visit Dry Fork Ridge
Best months: June–September. Best months have typical highs of 55–85 °F, lows of 30 °F or warmer (32 °F where the station doesn't record snow), at most one snowy day and no more than 12 wet days.
Jan
30° / 8°
Feb
29° / 7°
Mar
35° / 13°
Apr
41° / 18°
May
50° / 28°
Jun
61° / 35°
Jul
71° / 42°
Aug
70° / 41°
Sep
61° / 33°
Oct
46° / 23°
Nov
36° / 15°
Dec
29° / 8°
Typical high / low (°F) and days with rain or snow, 1991–2020. Measured at Burgess Junction, WY, 14.6 mi away at 8,060 ft. The station sits about 1,100 ft higher than this place, so expect it a little warmer here. This station doesn't record snowfall. Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020.
