RMNP - Spruce Lake

This is the first journal entry in a little over a year.  The last one was June 11, 2017.  It has been a busy year, with not much time for journalling.

Today's hike was to Spruce Lake in RMNP.  The Spruce Lake trail is a spur off the Fern Lake Trail.  While I have been to Fern Lake many times, I have never taken the spur to Spruce.  I started at the Cub Lake TH, hiked to Cub Lake, then over the hill to the Pool, and then joined the Fern Lake Trail there.  The park was very busy today, but that did not lessen the enjoyment of the hike.

There were quite a few wildflowers in bloom on the way to Cub Lake

King's Crown

Indian Paintbrush

Kings Crown

Cub Lake was unusually pretty today.

Cub Lake

After gaining the Fern Lake Trail, the first thing to pay attention to is Fern Falls.  They were flowing well.

Fern Falls

I reached the trail junction to Spruce Lake.  The trail itself is "unimproved", but there is enough traffic to make finding the path easy, although I had to look for some cairns in some of the rockier areas.  This trail gave me a little different view into the Odessa Gorge area where Odessa Lake lies.

Odessa Gorge from Spruce Lake Trail

Spruce Lake must be a fisherman's paradise.  When I reached the lake there were 8-10 folks fly-fishing all around the lake.  The area around the lake is heavily forested, but with some nice views of Gabletop Mountain.

Spruce Lake looking NNE

An unnamed peak WSW of Spruce lake

Gabletop Mountain

All in all is was a good day.