The Bute Lakes area is located off the McConnell Forest Service Road, east of Lac le Jeune, and north of Ross Moore Lake.     There are a number of old double tracks, some single tracks, and ATV routes around a cluster of small lakes and marshes.    I have hiked his area a few times in the past, but not since the Ross Moore Fire (2023) burned through the area.

I had hoped to hike a loop route past small lakes, but there were new tracks from the fire suppression activity and pipeline access, and some routes had heavy windfall from burned trees.

Bute Lake is the largest of the lakes.    It is a dammed reservoir lake, with no fishing, nor many visitors, except for a few snowmobilers in winter.

By late summer, many of the marshy areas were more like damp pastures.    From repeated fires in the area over a long period of time,  the succession growth has been shrubs and lodgepole pine.

I took a cross-country route to look for an old trapper’s cabin.    I didn’t find it, so it may have been burned.

I hiked past a number of smaller lakes, surrounded by a mixture of burned trees, succession trees, some older growth, and some mixed forests.

I followed an old single track, but it was rendered un-hikeable because of fallen trees and debris.     I had to hike a wider arc around impassable areas.   There are some double tracks that are still in good shape, particularly the ones linking over to the east side of Lac le Jeune, so on my next foray into the area, I will start at the far end, on the Ross Moore Forest Service Road.