Duck Lake

Drainage: Clarks Fork (WY)
Approaches: Rough off-road track past Chain Lakes to a roadside drop-off, then 391 yd down; 177 ft of descent

Elevation: 9,435 feet
Fish: No WYG&F data
Coordinates: 44.90914, -109.49052
Bugs: Minimal on our visit

Getting there

Drive past Chain Lakes on the main trail road. The smooth dirt ends here. To reach the drop-off point for Duck you need a high-clearance vehicle, a four-wheeler or a dirt bike, because the terrain past Chain gets rough.

Watch your navigation to find the roadside drop-off. It is not obvious and there is nothing marking it.

The hike

Short but real. From where you park it is 391 yards down into the basin, dropping 177 feet. That is steep for the distance, and it is the only lake on this road that asks anything of you on foot.

The walk down takes a few minutes. The walk back up takes longer, and it is worth remembering that before you carry anything down there.

Duck is 9,435 feet. Wyoming Game and Fish data has not been pulled for it. We fished it and caught nothing, which was true across this whole chain on our visit.

Tips & safety

• You climb the 177 feet back. Short, but steep both ways. Anything you carry down comes back up.

• The drop-off is easy to miss. Nothing marks it, and the track past Chain Lakes gets rough enough that you will be watching the ground rather than the shoulder.

• Fishing: No WYG&F data. We caught nothing here.

• Camping: Duck sits at 9,435 feet down in a basin below the road, which gives it more shelter than the roadside lakes on this chain. The catch is the 177 foot climb out with whatever you brought. Chain Lakes above or Sawtooth below are the better roadside camps if you want to unload from the vehicle.