Grebe Lake
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Grebe Lake | |
|---|---|
 As seen from Observation Peak, 1964 | |
  Grebe Lake  Grebe Lake | |
| Location | Yellowstone National Park, Park County, Wyoming, US |
| Coordinates | 44°45′03″N 110°33′31″W / 44.75083°N 110.55861°W[1] |
| Primary outflows | Gibbon River |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | .75 miles (1.21 km) |
| Max. width | .75 miles (1.21 km) |
| Surface area | 156 acres (0.63 km2) |
| Surface elevation | 8,023 feet (2,445 m)[1] |
Grebe Lake is a 156 acres (0.63 km2) backcountry lake in Yellowstone National Park most noted for its population of Arctic grayling. Grebe Lake comprises the headwaters of the Gibbon River. Grebe Lake is located approximately 3.1 miles (5.0 km) north of the Norris-Canyon section of the Grand Loop Road. The trail to the lake passes through mostly level Lodgepole Pine forest and open meadows. The lake was named by J.P. Iddings, a geologist with the Arnold Hague geologic surveys.[2] There are four backcountry campsites located on the lake.[3]
In 1921, U.S. Fish Commission personnel stocked Grebe Lake, at that time fishless, with the Montana strain Thymallus arcticus montanus of a lacustrine form of Arctic Grayling. The original stocks came from Georgetown Lake near Anaconda, Montana. The fluvial form of Arctic Grayling was native to the Madison and Gibbon Rivers below Gibbon Falls. In an effort to re-establish grayling in western states, over 72 million grayling eggs were harvested from Grebe Lake between 1931 and 1956 and distributed to hatcheries. Most lake dwelling grayling in the west today can be genetically traced to the Grebe Lake stocks.[4][5] Grebe Lake was closed to fishing until 1944 because of the fish culture operations at the lake. Wolf Lake 2 miles (3.2 km) west and Cascade Lake 3 miles (4.8 km) east also contain grayling.
