Dreary Lake

Drainage: Stillwater
Approaches: Approximately 38 miles round trip from the Box Canyon trailhead, with roughly 3,540 feet of climbing. All on trail.
Elevation: 9,194 feet
Fish: Rainbow and golden trout hybrids, abundant and self-sustaining. Montana FWP.
Coordinates: 45.27861, -110.06228
Bugs: Mosquitoes, just bad enough to be annoying.

Getting there

The lake sits in the Flood Creek drainage but the plateau is the way to it. FWP lists four ways in and says Upsidedown or Box Canyon are the best two, at 19 and 20 miles. There is a trail to it.

We did not use it. From Pinchot we cut off trail to get here, less than half a mile east, and it was not a good idea. It made a hard day harder for nothing. The trail exists; take it.

We were here four and a quarter hours out of Martes, having gone down steeply off Martes, up to Wounded Man, and up again to Pinchot before the drop across.

The hike

Dreary is 15.5 acres and shallow, 12 feet at the deepest and 5 on average.

The fish are abundant and are the same rainbow-golden crossing as at Pinchot next door. FWP's note is that most of them look like rainbows with some showing golden characteristics. They netted 16 in 2018 averaging 10.7 inches and running to 15.6, and 16 in 1994 averaging 8.5, so the fish have grown over the years.

We swam it and fished it. It rained on us that evening.

There are some camping spots and plenty of firewood.

Tips & safety

• Navigation: Take the trail. Cutting cross-country from Pinchot cost us effort and gained us nothing.

• Camping: Some spots with plenty of firewood, and we stayed the night.

• Fishing: Abundant hybrids around 10 to 11 inches with fish to 15.6.

• Bugs: Mosquitoes, annoying rather than bad.

• Flood Creek: The lake is in that drainage but do not come up it. FWP calls Flood Creek basically impassable.