Jay Lake

Drainage: Stillwater
Approaches: Approximately 43 miles round trip from the Box Canyon trailhead. Off trail from Lake Surrender.
Elevation: 9,794 feet
Fish: Yellowstone cutthroat, common and self-sustaining. Montana FWP.
Coordinates: 45.30673, -110.06669
Bugs: Mosquitoes, just bad enough to be annoying.

Getting there

FWP says the best access is from the Boulder lake plateau, and warns that the lake sits in the Flood Creek drainage, which is basically impassable. Come over the top, not up the creek.

We came from a camp at Lake Surrender by way of Chalice. Jay is about six tenths of a mile south of Chalice and 169 feet above it, half an hour on.

Their other listed routes are Woodbine at 15 miles with only 6 on trail, and West Fork Stillwater at 22 with 19.5 on trail.

The hike

Jay is 23.7 acres and 35 feet at the deepest, which makes it one of the bigger lakes on this side of the plateau.

The cutthroat were planted in 1977 and have been self-sustaining ever since. FWP netted and angled it in 2018 and got 22 fish averaging 14.4 inches with the biggest at 16.9, noting that some of the larger ones were a little thin but most were in good shape. In 2005 they got 14 averaging 13.4.

There is also a line in the stocking record worth reading twice: 5,000 largemouth bass in 1988. Nothing has come of it, and no bass have ever turned up in a survey.

FWP describes the camping as an unsheltered area with lots of flat spots and some firewood. Unsheltered is the operative word at 9,794 feet.

We did not stay long.

Tips & safety

• Navigation: Over the plateau, not up Flood Creek. Six tenths of a mile south of Chalice.

• Camping: Lots of flat spots and some firewood, but no shelter at all. FWP's words.

• Fishing: Self-sustaining cutthroat averaging around 14 inches with fish to 17. FWP caught theirs on a rod as well as in nets.

• Bugs: Mosquitoes, annoying rather than bad.