Getting There: Take the Fish Creek Exit on I-90 and proceed up Fish Creek Road #343, for approximately 16 miles and turn right on Surveyor Creek Road #7734 for 12 miles to the Schley Mountain Trailhead. 
This is a rough 12 miles, especially the portion past the Surveyor Lake trailhead at 8.5 miles. The Schley Mountain Trailhead has several places to camp and park along with a vault toilet. This trailhead and campground are dry, so bring plenty of water if camping. This is not the actual end of the road.
The gate is only open from when the snow is off until August 31; the gate is not open over Labor Day weekend. The road behind the gate is designated by the Forest Service as a non-maintained road. The Forest Service does not maintain or brush out this road.
From the Schley Mountain trailhead walk back down the road for a quarter mile or so. Look for an obvious unmarked trail that drops off the road and heads down to North Montana Lake. Once at North Montana Lake, head over to the outlet streambed; this seems to be the easiest route down to Schley Lake. The streambed is usually dry and relatively free of brush and debris so it is good going. If early in the year, the immediate area to the sides are good options. Eventually as you near the lake, you will pick up a trail through the trees that will take you to the lake. It was hot the day my son and I visited the lake in 2021, so we opted to climb back up through the trees to have some shade. I did the same route in 2025 when I revisited the lake.
At the Lake: The lake is shallow and contains no fish, just frogs, snakes and bugs (lots). Haven’t seen any game at the lake, but I would imagine that moose frequent it as there are lots of tracks in the mud. I didn’t see any campsites, but it is fairly flat around the lake so there are places in the trees to pitch a tent. I think the far side by the rocks is the deepest area, but getting there requires going through a boggy area or up on the hillside a bit.
