Chickadee Lake

Drainage: Boulder
Approaches: Approximately 19 miles round trip on Upsidedown Trail #26, with roughly 4,140 feet of climbing. The last mile is cross-country.
Elevation: 9,671 feet
Fish: Yellowstone cutthroat, common and self-sustaining. Montana FWP.
Coordinates: 45.27680, -110.15835
Bugs: Mosquitoes, just bad enough to be annoying.

Getting there

Up Upsidedown Creek on Trail #26, then about a mile of cross-country to the lake. Nine and a half miles from the trailhead, eight and a half of it on trail.

We came at it from a camp at Mirror on the last morning, a third of a mile west and 113 feet down, and were there within minutes of setting out.

The hike

Chickadee is 6.6 acres and shallow, 8 feet at the deepest.

There is a spring-fed spawning area in the inlet, and the cutthroat have gone self-sustaining off the back of it — no stocking record at all. FWP took 30 fish in 2021 averaging 10.6 inches, and 11 in 2012 averaging 11.4 with one at 16. That 2012 sample came from two hours of angling.

For a lake that is eight feet deep at its deepest point, holding fish to sixteen inches through their own spawning is unusual.

FWP calls the camping excellent just below the lake, with some firewood down there.

Tips & safety

• Navigation: Trail #26 up Upsidedown Creek, then about a mile cross-country. A third of a mile west of Mirror if you are coming across the plateau.

• Camping: Excellent just below the lake, with some firewood below.

• Fishing: Self-sustaining cutthroat around 10 to 11 inches with fish to 16. FWP got their 2012 sample in two hours with a rod.

• Bugs: Mosquitoes, annoying rather than bad.