Courthouse Lake
Drainage: Stillwater
Approaches: Goose Lake Jeep Trail — 4.2 mi, all off-trail; 1,285 ft up · From Anvil Lake — about 2 mi north · From Fly Lake — about 0.5 mi up the bench
Elevation: 9,935 feet
Fish: Yellowstone cutthroat (FWP)
Coordinates: 45.12654, -109.95526
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.
Park with the marten in mind. They are active in this basin and they chew wires and cables underneath parked machines. That is a risk to your ride home.
From the turnaround it is 4.2 miles to Courthouse, all off trail, with 1,285 feet of climbing.
The hike
The work is at the beginning. Climbing out of the Anvil basin is a rigorous slope and it is the steepest sustained ground on the route.
Once you clear it you pass the lower bench lakes, Lake Aries, Sourdough, Spider and Fly, and the route pushes higher into the canyon. After you top out on the upper bench the walking eases considerably, and the last stretch to Courthouse is straightforward.
At 9,935 feet Courthouse is the highest water in this basin and the top of the climb. It is also the rim. From here you look down about a thousand feet at Wrong Lake, a mile away in the canyon bottom. Reaching that water means dropping the full thousand feet through cliffs and nettles and climbing back out, which is a serious undertaking and not something to decide on impulse from up here.
Courthouse is 18.8 acres. FWP lists Yellowstone cutthroat.
Tips & safety
The climb out of Anvil is the hard part. Once you are on the upper bench the rest is easy walking.
Navigation: no maintained paths anywhere in this upper canyon. Route finding the whole way.
Weather: we took our rest breaks in pouring rain on the shore. At nearly 10,000 feet with nothing around you, come prepared for sustained cold rain rather than a passing shower.
The view down to Wrong Lake: worth walking to the rim for, and worth thinking hard about before you go after it.
Fishing: FWP lists Yellowstone cutthroat.
Camping: Courthouse sits at 9,935 feet on the upper bench, the highest and most exposed ground in this basin, with no timber and nothing to break weather. At 18.8 acres it is the largest water in the basin, so there is plenty of shoreline. Anything lower down the bench, Fly, Spider or Sourdough, gives you slightly more shelter.
