Hiking and Fishing in Rocky Mountains Park

Woke up on Saturday to much improved weather! Skies were overcast, but the winds had laid down nicely. Discussed our plan for the day and agreed we would take the shuttle up to bear lake trailhead, talk to some rangers about trail conditions, then head off for some hiking. We also brought along our fishing gear, as it’s a free fishing weekend in Colorado so no license is needed for two days.

Quickly learned that the upper elevation trails were still covered in snow and could be very tough to hike or even dangerous. Decided to check out a couple lakes near the trailhead first.  Still was quite a bit of snow on these short trails.  Sorta crowded on this trail, with some people wearing shorts and t-shirts!

Dream Lake

Our first try at fishing, but no luck at this lake

Ate our PBJ’s for lunch before heading back down to the trailhead.  Next destination would be towards cub lake to see about some more fishing.  We would take the lower elevation trails, which worked out well.

Warmer temps and light winds allowed us to shed some layers

After-effects of the 2012 forest fire

Made it down to Cub Lake and noticed that shallow and weedy conditions were no good for fishing. This made sense, since there were no references to this lake in the regs or online recommendations for good fishing.

It was about 4pm when we reached a stopping point where we had to decided to walk back to the campsite or continue further up the mountain to another lake. While out of water and food, we took the challenge and hiked the 2 miles towards Fern Lake. Glad we did, cause the fishing was great and we had the lake to ourselves in the late afternoon.

First fish!

Biggest fish!

A perfect June day in Colorado. Just what I imagined this place would be.

Sun was starting to set, so we packed up the fishing gear and started our 5 mile walk back home.  Made it back to our campsite around 8pm, so about 10 hours of hiking and fishing. Ended up covering about 12 miles in total. Feet and legs were completely shot. A warm fire, a couple cold ones and a 3 course meal (guacamole + chips, salad and home-made mac and cheese) was the perfect end to a great day!

Today’s route map with our trails in red