i was probably about 10 yrs old the first time I went into Castle Lake. I remember crossing big river (middle fork of flathead) by walking directly below my father with him holding my hand to prevent me being swept away by the current. We made numerous treks up to this beautiful lake, either a side trip while floating big river or riding motorcycles up to granite cabin and then making the hike to Castle.

After the formation of the Great Bear Wilderness, you can now only access this area by horseback or hiking. River floaters are probably the most frequent to hike up and fish the lake.

The last time I had been up to this beautiful mountain lake was in 2003 while on a pack trip with my boys and their grandfather. It was way past time to revisit, so yesterday Tanner and I got a wild hair and  rode up here from Granite Creek trailhead. We didn’t plan on fishing just a quick ride up. To make this ride in and out though is close to 20 miles so it was a long day in the heat we’ve been having.

There is nice grass in parts of the meadow heading into the lake so Tanner got to have a rest and lunch.

It’s a steep climb from the river up to this lake and the trail hasn’t been cut this year, so we were working hard getting though all the deadfall to get up here. It’s a welcome site when you emerge from the timber to the meadow.

You do have to cross big river to access the trail up to Castle Lake, so it is best to wait for lower flows.

This is one lake that I won’t wait so long to revisit in the future!