Anvil Lake (Stillwater)
Drainage: Stillwater
Approaches: Goose Lake Jeep Trail — 3.5 mi, all off-trail; 400 ft up, 800 ft down · Path to Star Dust Lake, then about 1 mi cross-country
Elevation: 9,512 feet
Fish: Yellowstone cutthroat (FWP)
Coordinates: 45.10029, -109.96184
Bugs: Minimal on our visit
Getting there
Getting to the start is half the trip. The Goose Lake Jeep Trail needs an ATV, an off-road buggy or a genuinely capable off-road vehicle. Nothing standard will make it.
Your driving ends at the turnaround near the Goose Creek waterfall, where you park and shoulder packs. Just before the trail ends near the falls, look for a hard right that points you north. That is where the walking starts.
Check your undercarriage before you leave the machine, and again when you come back. Pine marten are active in this basin and they chew wires and cables under parked vehicles. This is your ride home.
The hike
About four miles from the turnaround with roughly 500 feet of climbing, and it splits cleanly in two.
The first stretch is a short, well defined path running north past Wall Lake, Panhandle and Star Dust. Easy walking, obvious ground.
Once you leave the Star Dust shoreline the path stops entirely. From there it is about a mile of cross country through timber and rock into the upper basin. Nothing technical, but you are choosing your own line.
Anvil is 13.1 acres at 9,512 feet, the largest water in the lower part of this basin. FWP lists Yellowstone cutthroat. We fished it and did not catch anything.
This is the natural basecamp. Everything above, Aries, Sourdough, Spider, Fly and Courthouse, sits up a steep hill a mile north, and that hill is the hardest ground in the basin. Carrying a full pack up it once is bad enough. Camping here and working the bench on day trips is the better arrangement.
Tips & safety
The path ends at Star Dust. Everything past it is route finding through timber and rock.
The climb north is the real work. Anvil is the last easy ground before it.
Weather: high country with nothing to break a front. Come prepared for sustained cold rain rather than a passing shower.
Vehicle care: check your lines and undercarriage before leaving the machine at the waterfall, and look again before you drive out.
Fishing: FWP lists Yellowstone cutthroat. We did not catch any.
Camping: Anvil sits at 9,512 feet with timber around it, below the open bench, so there is real wind shelter here that you lose the moment you climb. At 13 acres there is plenty of shoreline to choose from. This is the best camp in the basin and the right base for everything above it.
