Deuce Lake

Drainage: Clarks Fork (WY)
Approaches: Clay Butte Trailhead, approximately 7.5 mi round trip; roughly 1,500 ft of climbing along the way. On trail the whole way · From Native Lake, approximately 0.4 mi north · From Box Lake, approximately 0.2 mi east
Elevation: 9,851 feet
Fish: Brook trout, common and self-sustaining
Coordinates: 44.99343, -109.61858
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 to Native Lake at about three miles. Deuce sits approximately four tenths of a mile north of Native, right beside the trail.

The hike

Approximately three and a half miles from the trailhead with roughly 1,500 feet of climbing along the way. The trail passes within about forty metres of the water, so this one takes no detour at all.

Deuce is small, around two and a half acres at approximately 9,851 feet. Box Lake is two tenths of a mile west and there is no reason to take one without the other. Ace, Trey and Surprise are all within half a mile as well.

Tips & safety

• Navigation: on trail the whole way. Deuce is close enough to the trail that you will walk past it whether or not you meant to.

• Camping: we did not camp at Deuce, so this is terrain description and not a site report. It is small and sits on open plateau above the trees with no shelter. 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 Deuce Lake, so treat it as a starting point rather than a survey.

• Bugs: minimal on our visit.