Cub Lake is situated between Mt. Wuh and a ridge above the Big Thompson River. It is located at an elevation of 8,620; the hike from the Cub Lake trailhead represents an elevation gain of 540 feet. The Lake is only 3 feet deep and 10 acres in size.
Abner Sprague, an early nearby hotelier and guide before this area was a National Park, named Cub Lake because it was just a small "cub of a lake."
This is a popular destination due to its relatively short distance of 2.3 miles. In winter, there is no evidence of the spring wildflowers for which the trail is popular, or the variety of animals, but you do have the stark contrast of the leafless red-tipped willows at stream-side to the blanket of snow, the large red-barked Ponderosa pines that frame the view of Stones Peak, and the pewter like shine of Cub Lake when it is cleared of snow by the high winds.
The trail starts out on the flat Moraine Park valley floor and parallels the South Lateral Moraine, left by the Thompson Glacier over 20,000 years ago. Evidence of glacial activity can be seen from the trail, including glacial erratics (rocks transported by the Glacier and dumped), glacial scarring of rocks, and rocks sheared to a flat face by the passing glacier.#
