Goat lake and other mountain lakes

sray · Jul 3, 2019

Anyone ever do the hike to goat lake? I'm heading there in two weeks and was wondering how the fishing and camping was? Is there one mountain lake better for fishing/camping in the area then another? I'll be on mules and was curious if we needed to pack food in for them or if there was enough area they could feed in? Also anyone see any mountain goats while they were there? I'll be bringing my spotting scope and binoculars and take a look around. While I'm there does anyone recommend anything we must see before we leave?

elkboy32 · Jul 3, 2019

I can think of three goat lakes within 100 miles. Could you be a bit more specific?

sray · Jul 3, 2019

>I can think of three goat
>lakes within 100 miles. Could
>you be a bit more
>specific?

I'm sorry located high in the Sawtooth Mountains in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The lake is approximately 6 miles southwest of Stanley

Blank · Jul 3, 2019

Hiked all over those Mts when I hunted sheep and goats, but never made it in to Goat Lake. Here's some info tho.

https://www.theoutbound.com/idaho/hiking/hike-to-goat-lake-idaho

customweld · Jul 3, 2019

Here is a historical stocking report from IFG.
https://idfg.idaho.gov/ifwis/fishingPlanner/water/1150196441721

elkboy32 · Jul 3, 2019

That's a pretty busy lake at this stage in the game. Not very far from the trailhead and a waterfall along the hike makes it a target for a lot of people. I have never seen any goats up there, but it's their habitat for sure. I bet a bit of hiking around off trail, checking out hidden basins will show you one.

I don't go into the sawtooths anymore. Getting pretty busy. But it's beautiful country!

sray · Jul 8, 2019

Thanks for the info. Guys really appreciate it. I'll let you guys know how the trip goes. I'm hoping to see some mountain goats so I might have to go explore a little if the trail is as populated as you guys say it is.

sray · Jul 9, 2019

>>I can think of three goat
>>lakes within 100 miles. Could
>>you be a bit more
>>specific?
>
>
>I'm sorry located high in the
>Sawtooth Mountains in the Sawtooth
>National Recreation Area. The lake
>is approximately 6 miles southwest
>of Stanley
Shoot guys I'm filling dang stupid right now a buddy saw my post and said I posted the wrong goat lake! Long story short I must have had my mind on something else when I posted the location. We will be near copper basin not Stanley.

elkboy32 · Jul 9, 2019

I did goat/Betty/baptie last summer. It's pretty popular as well. I would avoid the weekend. The better camping is down on baptie lake. No trees really up at goat.

The fishing at goat was awesome. I caught some great fish right at dusk. The other two lakes didn't produce for me.

I saw multiple goats on my trip. We climbed standhope peak and I saw several. And believe it or not I saw a wolverine! I'll post up a photo tomorrow

elkboy32 · Jul 10, 2019

My buddies and I did Goat, Betty, Baptie lakes last summer. It is a really cool zone for sure! Again, its a busy place.

The better camping is around Baptie lake. It has campsites, firewood and trees. Goat is awesome but it's fairly sparse cover. A little grass on the east side of the lake. I would try and camp there though. Baptie was the busiest backpacking spot I have ever been. We had the lake between three camps thursday night. By friday night, we were sandwiched between many camps. It was weird to listen to multiple conversations 5 miles from the trailhead. So get there early!

It was awesome up there though! Goat lake has the best fishing. I saw lot of mountain goats up there. We climbed standhope peak for sunrise, and we saw a bunch of goats up there. There were also west of goat lake.

And, we saw a wolverine! The pioneers has the highest concentration of wolverines in the lower 48. I've heard of multiple people seeing them up there, so keep your eyes open!

elkboy32 · Jul 10, 2019

elkboy32 · Jul 10, 2019

smokepoler63 · Jul 10, 2019

Awesome photo! Thanks for sharing.

IdaMatt · Jul 10, 2019

That's awesome, great pictures.

IdahoHntr · Jul 10, 2019

Those are great pictures! My dad saw a whole family of wolverines up in that area a couple years ago. He was about 150-200 yards away and tried to get some footage of them through his binos, but didn't get anything as good as that. There were some wolverine youngsters (pups?) that were all playin around their den. Kind of cool that they still have them in that area.

sray · Jul 14, 2019

Wow what cool pictures. Thanks for the info.

sray · Jul 15, 2019

Well after talking with multiple people before leaving for goat lake we decided to hold off on the trip to goat lake and go to moose lake instead. I was told by multiple people goat lake was still frozen. So off we went to moose lake. First off what a great time and beautiful views. We had a great ride in and had so much fun fishing. I didn't find any mountain goats even after spending hours behind the glass looking over the beautiful country. we did have a good time catching the fish and enjoying the weather. I made the climb to angel lake but just as I made the top of course my phone died so I didn't get any pictures of that lake. I'll post a few pictures of the trip. Thanks to everyone that gave me pointers on the trip to goat lake. I can't wait to actually make it to goat lake and I'll make sure to update you on that trip when it comes.

sray · Jul 15, 2019

sray · Jul 15, 2019

sray · Jul 15, 2019

elkboy32 · Jul 15, 2019

Awesome!

I am planning an Angel lake to Moose lake loop in a couple weeks, so seeing those photos helped! Didn't know how open the pass was.

Glad you had a fun trip!

sray · Jul 15, 2019

>Awesome!
>
>I am planning an Angel lake
>to Moose lake loop in
>a couple weeks, so seeing
>those photos helped! Didn't know
>how open the pass was.
>
>
>Glad you had a fun trip!
>

Here is a little better photo of the pass hopefully this gives ya a good idea. Please post some pictures if love to see how your trip goes.