Earlier this summer we hiked back to our favorite lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. This is a relatively easy trail at 2.8 miles and a 1,000’ elevation gain from the junction of the Bear Lake Trail and Glacier Gorge trail near Tyndall Creek. An early start is recommended to get a parking space at Bear Lake.

The Loch brings us back every summer to catch and release the hybrid cutthroat there. These colorful fish are a mix of cutthroat and rainbow trout stocked long before RMNP came into existence by local lodge owners. Though not large by trophy standards, the majority of the trout we catch are from 12” – 14” with a few that reach 18”. It is not unusual to catch and release more than a dozen fish each from this lake while we’re there. Terrestrials, especially ant and flying ant patterns are consistent producers here. These trout are territorial and stake out a specific area of shoreline to patrol for food. Put an ant fly in their territory and they will find it. The challenge at the Loch is the dense forest that surrounds it. The shoreline rocks create better spots to cast from but always watch your back cast.

The trail continues on the north side of the Loch where it follows Icy Brook up the side of a waterfall to Lake of Glass and Sky Pond. Lake of Glass is home to a small population of hybrid cutthroats and Sky Pond holds some larger brook trout. We don’t usually go on past the Loch to the upper lakes due to our avoidance of the waterfall area and because we find the best fishing right at the Loch.

Mills Lake Inlet

Rainbow on a dry fly at mid-day

Mills Lake with Longs Peak, the Keyboard of the Winds, and Pagoda Mountain

A few days ago we headed out before sunrise so we could get to the Bear Lake parking lot before it filled up. During the summer crush of visitors, parking at Glacier Gorge is rarely available after 5 AM. So, we usually drive on up to Bear Lake and park at the east end of the lot. From there, the horse trail crosses over to the main trail that connects Bear Lake with Glacier Gorge. This downhill start is a nice warmup before heading up to Mills Lake.

At the junction of the Haiyaha trail and The Loch trail, we turned south crossing the Icy Brook and Glacier Creek bridges on the trail to Mills Lake. Just before the trail arrives at the lake, the path crosses bare granite scraped clean by glaciers long ago. We usually walk over to an overlook above the Mills outlet to see a few feeding fish. We decided to hike past the lake and cross Glacier Creek at the inlet before unpacking our fishing gear. This time we brought sandals for wading across the small stream. After a short ramble through shoreline vegetation we arrived at our favorite granite peninsula. Wind is a constant consideration in these high lakes A granite peninsula makes a perfect fly-casting platform without trees in the back cast zone.

Mills lake has a wild population of both rainbow and brook trout stocked by local lodge owners before RMNP came into existence. We fished dry flies all day and caught [and released] about equal numbers of brook and rainbow trout. We used terrestrials, our grasshopper and flying ant patterns fooled the most fish.

After Lunch, we walked around the west side of Jewel Lake towards the inlet where we once again put on our sandals to wade fish in this shallow lake. To my surprise, we caught a few brook trout in water less than 6” deep before heading back towards Mills on the Black Lake trail.

After catching a few more trout at the north end of the lake, we started back to Bear Lake. That downhill warmup  at the start of the day always turns into a steep hike back up to the Bear Lake parking lot at the end.  After a day of hiking 8.5 miles above 9,000 ft. a cool beverage while sitting in a car rolling down the Bear Lake road felt really good.