Squeeze Lake

Drainage: Boulder
Approaches: Approximately 27 miles round trip on the Upsidedown Trail, with roughly 3,770 feet of climbing. The last two miles are cross-country. Box Canyon is 15.5 miles one way.
Elevation: 9,591 feet
Fish: Yellowstone cutthroat, common and stocked. Montana FWP.
Coordinates: 45.29167, -110.14558
Bugs: Mosquitoes, just bad enough to be annoying.

Getting there

FWP puts it plainly: the Upsidedown and Box Canyon trails get you most of the way, and the last part is cross-country. They also call it easy access from the Mirror and Rainbow lakes, which is how we came at it.

From the bottom of the Rainbow chain it is about a mile and a half northwest and 143 feet up. We were in its ground for the better part of an hour in the early afternoon, on the way to a camp near Mirror.

The hike

Squeeze is 7 acres and shallow for this country, 22 feet at the deepest with a 20-foot average, which means most of the lake is close to its deepest point.

The cutthroat are stocked on an eight-year cycle, 700 fish in 2011, again in 2019, with the next lot due in 2027. They run remarkably consistent — 12 fish in 2025 averaging 12.5 inches, and 8 in 2018 averaging exactly the same. The 2025 crew fished it with a rod and nets both, said the fish were in good shape, and noted there seemed to be more of them around than in previous years.

FWP says there are some campsites and lots of firewood.

Tips & safety

• Navigation: On trail most of the way from either Upsidedown or Box Canyon, then about two miles cross-country. Easiest approach is from the Mirror and Rainbow lakes.

• Camping: Some campsites and lots of firewood.

• Fishing: Stocked cutthroat holding steady at 12.5 inches across two surveys seven years apart, with fish to nearly 15.

• Bugs: Mosquitoes, annoying rather than bad.