Speculator Lake
Drainage: Boulder
Approaches: Approximately 19 miles round trip from the Fourmile trailhead, with roughly 4,300 feet of climbing. No trail above Silver Lake.
Elevation: 9,578 feet
Fish: Yellowstone cutthroat, abundant and stocked. Montana FWP.
Coordinates: 45.37641, -110.34424
Bugs: Never bad.
Getting there
Everything up to Silver Lake applies here first, and Silver is where we camped. From there it is up to Patient, then east.
Twenty minutes past Patient you are on top of the pass, a saddle of brown and black rock, almost gravel, that drops into the canyon on the other side. You can walk up and over it. We went up the side of it instead.
The east side down to the cabin is the scarier half. It is small loose rock scattered through grass, which does not give you much to trust. That drop is 540 feet in about ten minutes, and the lake is another quarter mile northwest and about 100 feet up from the cabin.
Coming back the same way, we skirted the base of some cliffs and scrambled the loose rock above them, and it took forty minutes.
The west side back down into Patient is the fun one. That side is shale, and if you keep your feet moving you stay on top of the rocks and can nearly jump your way down.
Three hours from camp to the lake, and about two back.
FWP calls it 9.5 miles from the Fourmile trailhead with 4,300 feet of climbing, and there is a second way in on Speculator Creek Trail #21 that runs 8 miles with 4,532 up.
The hike
Speculator is 9.7 acres, 35 feet at the deepest and 21 on average.
The cabin sits at about 9,470 feet, just below and southeast of the lake, still standing with old mining claims around it. It is a nice building, nobody home and it does not look lived in.
We saw a black bear at the lake, above the cabin. He had no interest in us.
The fishing lives up to the survey work. FWP netted 45 cutthroat here in 2014 averaging 12.5 inches with the biggest at 16.7, and 22 in 2006 averaging 13.1. Their notes say the fish were easily caught with hook and line, were in good condition, and that multiple year classes are present, meaning some of them are spawning on their own. It was stocked in 2016 and 2008 and future plants are on hold.
Tips & safety
Navigation: No trail above Silver. Up to Patient, then east over the saddle. The east side into the cabin is loose rock in grass and the west side back into Patient is shale.
Camping: FWP calls the campsites questionable with scarce firewood and says it is better below. Silver has the camping.
Fishing: Abundant stocked cutthroat running 12 to 13 inches with fish approaching 17, and easy to catch. Fishing was good.
Bugs: Never bad.
Bear: We saw a black bear at the lake.
The cabin: A quarter mile southeast of the lake and about 100 feet below it.
