cub lake hike

Cub Lake is located at an elevation of 8,620 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park. From the Cub Lake Trailhead (8,080 feet) on the western edge of Moraine Park, it’s a pleasant 4.8 mile (round-trip) hike. Parking at the trailhead is limited, but there’s additional parking available farther up the road at the Fern Lake Trailhead.

Just after you start out on this hike, the trail crosses a sizable log footbridge that carries you across the Big Thompson River. From the bridge, you can look upstream to the Continental Divide and see Stones Peak (12,922 ft), Sprague Mountain (12,713 ft), and Gabletop Mountain (11,939 ft).

The trail, with some minor ups & downs, skirts the western edge of the vast meadow known as Moraine Park. Quite a few wildflowers bloom along this section of trail during summer. Before reaching the heavily wooded ridgeline shown in the picture below, the trail turns to the west and follows Cub Creek.

The trail now begins to wind through rocky forest, with small ponds found in a few of the marshy areas alongside the trail. Wildflowers also abound along this part of the trail. We even saw a few examples of the beautiful wood lily. Scattered up the hillside to your right, you’ll notice large boulders bordering the trail here. They’re called glacial erratics (rocks deposited on the glacially scoured bedrock as the wall of ice melted thousands of years ago).

The trail steepens a bit as it winds its way through the pine forest and up into groves of aspen. I’m sure the aspen trees make this part of the trail very pretty in the fall. Even while ascending through the forest to Cub Lake, the trail never becomes too difficult.

Cub isn’t actually one of the more scenic lakes in RMNP, but its main claim to fame probably isn’t the scenery around the lake, but rather what you’ll find on the lake in July & August… yellow pond lilies. Be careful you don’t fall in the water while trying to get close-up shots of lily pads & lovely yellow blossoms! As far as a landscape shot of the lake & mountains, your best bet will be to cross over the marshy eastern end of the lake on the path that leads back to the Cub Creek Backcountry Campsite. There’s a social trail that makes its way through the trees which closely border the southern shoreline, and you’ll find several good spots along there to photograph the lake with Stones Peak and Sprague Mountain offering a suitably alpine backdrop.

Thanks for reading about stuff I’ve photographed. ~ Rich