Lower Cataract Lake

Lower Cataract Lake

This easy and family-friendly loop trail travels through fields of colorful wildflowers, thick spruce-fir forest, and past beautiful cascades of Cataract Creek. After hiking, spend some time lounging along the shores of the lake enjoying views of Cataract Falls and Eagles Nest. The pointy peak is the second highest in the Gore Range and is the namesake for the Eagles Nest Wilderness area. Cataract Lake is a gem of a lake situated below Cataract Falls. The falls were created when the land uplifted starting about five million years ago. Locals in the late 1800s enjoyed the Cataract Lake area. Howard Hill owned Cataract Lake back in those days and also ran a fish hatchery. He stocked trout in the pretty lake. The Summit County Journal in July 1899 noted that “Mountain trout, from Cataract Lake, the proprietor holding a state license to market fish,[is ] on sale at George E. Moon’s every Friday.” An article in the Breckenridge Bulletin, September 23,1905,stated that Hill “has already placed 1,500,000 fish in the lake since he became its owner.”

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