Chalice Lake

Drainage: Stillwater
Approaches: Approximately 42 miles round trip from the Box Canyon trailhead. Off trail from Lake Surrender.
Elevation: 9,625 feet
Fish: No FWP data.
Coordinates: 45.31508, -110.06612
Bugs: Mosquitoes, just bad enough to be annoying.

Getting there

We came at it from a camp at Lake Surrender, about two miles northwest and 900 feet up. It took an hour and a half.

That was the first leg of a ten-mile day that finished at Wounded Man, so it works as a morning out and back from Surrender if you are staying there, or as the first stop on a longer move.

The hike

Chalice was the prettiest lake of the nine days, and we were not short of candidates.

It is 8.4 acres at 9,625 feet, the highest thing in its immediate pocket.

Montana FWP has no entry for it, so there is no depth, no acreage of their own, no fish record and no camping assessment. Nothing has been published about this lake.

Jay is the next one on, and after that the day runs back down past Surrender, Raven, Dreary and Pinchot toward Wounded Man.

Tips & safety

• Navigation: Off trail from Lake Surrender, two miles northwest and 900 feet up.

• Camping: We came through in the late morning and did not scout it. Lake Surrender has the best camping in this whole country, two miles back.

• Fishing: No FWP data.

• Bugs: Mosquitoes, annoying rather than bad.