More Lakes Nearby

The Clearwater chain is not the end of the lake list. Clearwater Lake is a short drive and an even shorter walk from Highway 83, and two large lakes, Holland and Lindbergh, lie farther north in the Swan Valley. This page gives the essentials for each, plus what little we can confirm about two names that turn up on maps: Summit Lake and Big Sky Lake.

Clearwater Lake

Clearwater Lake is a 104-acre lake at about 4,797 feet.¹ FWP lists just two fish species, brook trout and native westslope cutthroat trout, and stocked 2,000 cutthroat on June 10, 2026, after earlier plants in 2023, 2021 and 2019.¹ FWP has no depth figure for it.

Getting there. A 2017 Pathfinder guide gives this route: east off Highway 83 on the Morrell-Clearwater Road for 3 miles, then left on Forest Road 4270, the Clearwater Lake Loop Road, for 3 miles to the trailhead. The loop road continues about 7 miles north and rejoins Highway 83.² From the trailhead, a quarter-mile trail drops about 150 feet to the lake, and a 1.9-mile trail circles it.² Our Clearwater Lake Loop page has the hiking details.

What to expect (from the 2017 report). A large primitive campsite with no amenities, views of the Swan Range, moose sightings on the access road, huckleberries along the trail and leeches in the shallows.² Loons nest on the lake, and nest areas were marked with buoys, which were removed in mid-July that year.² Stay clear of any marked nest.

This information is several years old. Road and campsite conditions for 2026 are not verified, so call the Seeley Lake Ranger District at 406-677-2233 before you go.¹⁴

Holland Lake

Holland Lake is the deepest lake in this guide at 156 feet, with an average depth of 59 feet across about 414 acres.³ It sits in the Swan Valley on the Flathead National Forest, in FWP Region 1 rather than Region 2.³ The turnoff is off Highway 83 near mile marker 35, roughly 25 miles north of Seeley Lake.⁴

The Forest Service campground has 38 rentable sites (24 reservable and 14 walk-up), a day-use area, a group site and a boat ramp.⁴ The Holland Falls trailhead is nearby; see our Holland Falls page.

FWP lists kokanee, lake trout, westslope cutthroat, bull trout, rainbow trout, yellow perch and several native whitefish and sucker species.³ FishMT flags the lake trout as native; we have not verified that. We have not verified Holland’s lake-specific 2026 rules, so read the current FWP regulations before you fish.

Lindbergh Lake

Lindbergh Lake covers about 815 acres and reaches 121 feet.⁵ Like Holland, it is in FWP Region 1.⁵ FWP’s lake map shows a boat launch.⁶

The Flathead National Forest’s Lindbergh Lake Campground has 11 sites, restrooms and fire rings. It has no drinking water, trailers are limited to 20 feet, and Recreation.gov lists it as not reservable.⁷ We have not verified its fees or season.

FWP lists brook trout, bull trout, kokanee, lake trout (flagged native in FishMT), rainbow trout, westslope cutthroat, yellow perch and native whitefish and sucker species.⁵ Missoula County has a citizen-initiated zoning district, #25A, covering Lindbergh and Cygnet lakes.⁸

Lindbergh Lake also figures in Indigenous travel history. At a 2023 talk reported by the Pathfinder, a Salish Kootenai College speaker described a Salish travel route over the Mission Mountains, the “Long Ridge Trail,” that reached Lindbergh Lake.⁹

Summit Lake

We are not sure which Summit Lake people mean when they ask. The U.S. Geological Survey’s place-names database lists a Summit Lake in Missoula County at about 47.27 N, 113.79 W.¹⁰ USGS elevation data put that spot at about 6,784 feet, which makes it an alpine lake, in the Mission Mountains west of Lindbergh Lake.¹¹ We found no FWP page for it, and we have not verified a trail, access or fish. Ask the ranger district before planning a trip.

Big Sky Lake

USGS also lists a Big Sky Lake in Missoula County at about 47.11 N, 113.39 W, a few miles east of Salmon Lake, at about 4,274 feet.¹²¹³ That is all we can confirm. We found no FWP or Forest Service page describing its size, fish or public access, so do not assume you can reach it. Ask the Seeley Lake Ranger District at 406-677-2233.¹⁴

Back to the chain

For the main lakes around town, see the lakes comparison table, or go straight to Seeley Lake, Lake Alva and Rainy Lake or Lake Inez.