Wall Lake (Stillwater)
Drainage: Stillwater
Approaches: Goose Lake Jeep Trail — 267 yd from the vehicle turnaround, on a defined path
Elevation: 9,763 feet
Fish: No FWP data
Coordinates: 45.10369, -109.92154
Bugs: Minimal on our visit
Getting there
Everything hard about Wall Lake is the driving. 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. Just before the trail ends near the falls, look for a hard right that points you north.
Check your undercarriage before you leave the machine, and again when you come back. Pine marten are active in this basin and they chew wires and cables under parked vehicles. This is your ride home.
The hike
There is barely one. 267 yards north on a well defined path with almost no elevation change, and you are on the shoreline. Fifteen minutes round trip.
If you have made the drive up the jeep trail, this is the lake you get for free.
Wall is 8.4 acres at 9,763 feet. FWP has no data for it, which means no stocking record rather than a confirmed empty lake. We fished it and did not catch anything.
It is also the boundary. Everything past Wall is unmaintained. Panhandle, Star Dust, Anvil and the whole bench above them are cross country, and the path you walked in on does not continue.
Tips & safety
This is where the maintained path ends. Wall is the last lake in the basin you can reach without route finding. If that matters to you, this is your turnaround.
The drive is the hard part. Do not underestimate the jeep trail on the way in.
Weather: high country with nothing to break a front. Come prepared for sustained cold rain rather than a passing shower.
Vehicle care: check your lines and undercarriage before leaving the machine at the waterfall, and again before you drive out.
Fishing: no FWP record for this lake. We caught nothing.
Camping: Wall sits at 9,763 feet with timber around it and is the closest water to the turnaround, which makes it a practical staging camp before pushing into the basin. At 8.4 acres there is a fair amount of shoreline. Anvil, further in, is the better base if you are working the bench above.
