Distance RT: 4.6 miles
Time: 2 hrs
Difficulty: Easy
Permits required: Yes
Brief Description
This Cub Lake Trail leads on a fairly level grade west through open ares where beaver ponds are common. The trail then passes through a stand of aspen trees and passes the Cub Creek campsites before reaching the marshy area at Cub Lake. This trail has a reputation for being a good trail for viewing wildlife, including elk, ducks, and songbirds. Description adapted from here.
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| Cub Lake trail. Larger map can be downloaded here. |
Trail Map
The map above shows a zoomed-in snapshot of Moraine Park within the encompassing Rocky Mountain National Park. Cub Lake trail (a green stitched line) begins at the black dot marked "Cub Lake Trailhead" found in the upper center part of the map. As you can see, it bends south first, then curves west along Cub Creek until it reaches Cub Lake, pictured to the left hand side of the map. Cub Lake marks the return point of this trail, although it continues westward to link up with others if you decide to continue hiking further.
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| Denver to Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park. Thanks to Google Maps. |
Directions from Denver
-Take Highway I-25 North and exit onto U.S. Highway 36 west towards Boulder.
-Continue on US-36 W (also marked as CO-66 W) through the town of Lyons (requires following Main Street).
-After another ~20 miles after Lyons, you will reach the Beaver Meadows Park Entrance Station.
-From the Entrance Station, head west less than a quarter mile and turn south on Bear Lake Road toward Moraine Park.
-Follow Bear Lake Road about 1.2 miles and turn right toward Fern Lake and Moraine Park campgrounds.
-Follow this road for about 0.5 miles to another junction and turn left towards Fern Lake and Cub Lake TH. The Cub Lake parking lot is ~1 mile further.
Parking
No bathrooms. No Fee. Space is limited. We recommend that you get to the TH early, before 9 or 10 AM to get a spot. There is a park and shuttle option available for free via park service. Ask the visitors center personnel about these options, as we have not tried this yet. The access roads are very well kept and easy to navigate with a small vehicle.
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| Trailhead. |
Personal Notes and Experiences
The Cub Lake trail took us first through a grassy prairie-like area where we quickly encountered a group of grazing elk. At the same moment, we were crossing paths with two Rangers hiking that informed us that the females are called "cows," and we were looking at a group of cows with their small offspring hidden in the tall grasses nearby. They also warned us not to approach them, as friendly as they might look, because they can be very territorial with their young. We also saw other wildlife, such as prairie dogs, mountain chipmunks (with long swatting talks), woodchucks (or some other strange animal), and many squirrels.
As we started to hike westward along the Cub Creek, the trail was flooded in a few places from surrounding mountain snow melt. Other than that, the trail was in very good condition, so nice in fact, that some hikers were spotted wearing flip flops! The trail was fairly crowded with people of all ages enjoying the surrounding flowers and wildlife. We had started around 10:30 am, mid-morning, so that probably had something to do with it.
Once we reached Cub Lake, we climbed a nearby boulder to get some great photos of the marshy lake below, as well as have a snack with some friendly chipmunks. One chipmunk snapped up a stray Cheez It cracker and happily munched on it nearby. Emily felt very tiered on this hike and felt bad slowing down Joe. However, perhaps it was an opportunity to really take in our beautiful mountain surroundings.
As we were arriving back at our car, some afternoon showers started. We thought about the many hikers that we passed going the opposite direction out (we hope they had ponchos)! Before we left the Rocky Mountain National Forest, we drove to a look out spot along Upper Beaver Meadows and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while listening to "Girl Who Plays with Fire," while taking in a rare site: an elk bull playing tag with a group of cows as a large, dark thunderhead with lightning formed behind the nearby mountains.
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| Heading westward towards the Rockies. |
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| Mountain runoff. |
As we started to hike westward along the Cub Creek, the trail was flooded in a few places from surrounding mountain snow melt. Other than that, the trail was in very good condition, so nice in fact, that some hikers were spotted wearing flip flops! The trail was fairly crowded with people of all ages enjoying the surrounding flowers and wildlife. We had started around 10:30 am, mid-morning, so that probably had something to do with it.
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| The marshy Cub Lake, perched from our lookout boulder. |
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| A friendly (hungry) snack guest. |
Once we reached Cub Lake, we climbed a nearby boulder to get some great photos of the marshy lake below, as well as have a snack with some friendly chipmunks. One chipmunk snapped up a stray Cheez It cracker and happily munched on it nearby. Emily felt very tiered on this hike and felt bad slowing down Joe. However, perhaps it was an opportunity to really take in our beautiful mountain surroundings.
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| A stormy sky hovering above majestic mountains. Rocky Mountain National Park. |
As we were arriving back at our car, some afternoon showers started. We thought about the many hikers that we passed going the opposite direction out (we hope they had ponchos)! Before we left the Rocky Mountain National Forest, we drove to a look out spot along Upper Beaver Meadows and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while listening to "Girl Who Plays with Fire," while taking in a rare site: an elk bull playing tag with a group of cows as a large, dark thunderhead with lightning formed behind the nearby mountains.
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