Ace Lake

Drainage: Clarks Fork (WY)
Approaches: Clay Butte Trailhead, approximately 8.5 mi round trip; roughly 1,750 ft of climbing along the way. On trail the whole way · From Native Lake, approximately 0.4 mi northeast
Elevation: 9,918 feet
Fish: Brook trout, common and self-sustaining
Coordinates: 44.99328, -109.61268
Bugs: Minimal on our visit

Getting there

The Clay Butte Trailhead sits off US 212 west of the Beartooth Lake turnoff, up the gravel Clay Butte Road toward the lookout tower. The signed trailhead is on the left just before a hairpin switchback, at approximately 9,555 feet.

The trail drops roughly 345 feet over the first mile and a half, then climbs north past Native Lake at about three miles. Ace sits approximately four tenths of a mile northeast of Native, close to the trail.

The hike

Approximately four miles from the trailhead with roughly 1,750 feet of climbing along the way. The trail passes within about forty-five metres of the water.

Ace is the smallest lake in this group, around an acre and a third, and the highest of them at approximately 9,918 feet. Surprise is under two tenths of a mile northwest, Trey a quarter mile northeast, Deuce three tenths west. Nothing up here is more than a few minutes from the next one.

Tips & safety

• Navigation: on trail the whole way. Ace is small enough that it reads as a pond from a distance, but it is right beside the trail and hard to walk past.

• Camping: we did not camp at Ace, so this is terrain description and not a site report. It is small, high and fully exposed on open plateau. We carried on north and camped higher.

• Fishing: brook trout, common and self-sustaining. That comes from a fishing guide rather than Wyoming Game and Fish, and there is no state stocking record for Ace Lake, so treat it as a starting point rather than a survey. At an acre and a third, do not expect much water to work with.

• Bugs: minimal on our visit.