Fly Lake

Drainage: Stillwater
Approaches: Goose Lake Jeep Trail — 3.7 mi, all off-trail; 1,065 ft up · From Anvil Lake — about 1.6 mi north · From Spider Lake — a short walk west, roughly level

Elevation: 9,794 feet
Fish: Brook trout (FWP)
Coordinates: 45.11996, -109.96935
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 3.7 miles to Fly, all off trail, with 1,065 feet of climbing.

The hike

The work is the climb out of the Anvil basin. That slope is rigorous and it is the steepest ground on this route.

Once you clear it you are on the bench, and the walking gets much easier. Past Lake Aries and Sourdough you reach Spider, and Fly is a short walk further along the same bench. The two sit at exactly the same elevation, so that last stretch is level ground rather than more climbing.

Fly is 9,794 feet. FWP lists brook trout, which sets it apart from most of this basin. Aries also holds brook trout, but Beauty, Anvil, Courthouse and Wrong are all Yellowstone cutthroat.

Courthouse is about half a mile further up the bench and is the high point of the basin.

Tips & safety

• The climb out of Anvil is the whole difficulty. Everything on the bench above it is easy walking by comparison.

• Navigation: no maintained paths anywhere up here. Continuous route finding between the bench lakes.

• Weather: high country with nothing to break a front. Come prepared for sustained cold rain rather than a passing shower.

• Fishing: FWP lists brook trout. There is a clean split on this bench, Aries, Sourdough, Spider and Fly all hold brook trout, while Beauty and Anvil below and Courthouse and Wrong beyond are all Yellowstone cutthroat.

• Camping: Fly sits at 9,794 feet on the open bench, above the last real shelter, so no timber and nothing to break weather. Spider is level with it a short walk east if you want options, and both are more sheltered than Courthouse higher up.