Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Colorado / Rocky Mountain National Park

Thunder Lake (Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park)

Rocky Mountain National Park, National Park Service (Wild Basin, southeast corner of the park)

Thunder Lake sits at the head of Wild Basin, in the quieter southeast corner of Rocky Mountain National Park. Wildland Trekking calls Wild Basin one of the most stunning and lesser-visited cirques in the park. The trail follows North St. Vrain Creek past three waterfalls, Copeland Falls, Calypso Cascades, and Ouzel Falls, before climbing to the lake below the Continental Divide.

The Thunder Lake campsite has only three individual sites, so permits are competitive.

The hike

The NPS gives the directions: from the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, take Highway 36 east about a mile, turn right onto Mary’s Lake Road for about 2.4 miles to Highway 7, then follow Highway 7 about 9.1 miles to Wild Basin Road. The trailhead and Wild Basin Ranger Station are at the end of that road, about 2 miles in.

ProTrails describes the route. The trail rises gently beside North St. Vrain Creek to spurs for Lower and Upper Copeland Falls, at about 0.35 and 0.45 mile. At about 1.35 miles comes the backcountry campsite access trail; the main trail crosses the creek and climbs to Calypso Cascades at 1.8 miles, then steepens to Ouzel Falls at 2.6 miles. Wildland Trekking describes Ouzel Falls as a sheer waterfall about 50 feet high, and Calypso Cascades as tumbling water in thick lodgepole pine forest.

ProTrails says the Ouzel Lake and Thunder Lake trails split at about 2.95 miles. The Thunder Lake trail continues up the valley to the lake. Handstands Around the World notes that at about 1.5 miles, a bypass trail to the right leads past several backcountry campsites, an alternative that skips the falls but shortens the hike.

At the top, ProTrails says a Ranger Patrol Cabin on the lake’s northeast side posts useful area information. The NPS says the campsite has three individual sites, one group site, and one stock site at 10,570 feet, with a privy and water from the lake’s inlet and outlet streams. It says the individual and group sites are in a forested area west of the trail, marked by a wood sign and red arrowheads on trees, and asks campers to stay away from standing dead trees.

The NPS estimates five to seven hours of travel time to the campsite. Handstands Around the World reached their campsite turnoff, about 0.2 mile short of Thunder Lake, in about three hours. They noted that all three individual sites and the group site were full when they were there.

ProTrails lists other campsites along the way: Pine Ridge, 1.4 miles in, with two sites and a privy; Tohosa at 1.7 miles; and Upper Ouzel Creek at 5.6 miles, about 0.7 mile below Bluebird Lake. Wildland Trekking says Ouzel Lake has one wilderness campsite very close to the lake.

Wildland Trekking describes the high country above Thunder Lake, with waterfalls, ridges, and peaks along the Continental Divide, as a base for further day hikes. ProTrails notes that Ouzel Falls and Ouzel Lake are named for the ouzel, or dipper, a small bird that dives into cold streams to catch insects.

For another Rocky Mountain National Park trip, see Lawn Lake in the Mummy Range.

Tips

Camping

A wilderness permit is required for every overnight, reserved on Recreation.gov and picked up in person. The NPS lists Thunder Lake with three individual sites, one group site, and one stock site, a privy, and water from the lake’s streams. From April 1 to October 31, food must be stored in a hard-sided canister at least 200 feet from your campsite. Other campsites in Wild Basin include Pine Ridge, Tohosa, Ouzel Lake, and Upper Ouzel Creek, according to ProTrails.

Inside Intel: ProTrails says the individual sites are in the forest north of the trail, about 300 yards east of the lake, while the NPS places them west of the trail; follow the posted signs and arrowheads. Handstands Around the World found every site full in late August, a sign of how sought-after this campsite is. If Thunder Lake is booked, ProTrails lists Ouzel Lake’s single site, near the lake’s inlet, as an alternative.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

A night below the Divide:

Thunder Lake's campsite sits above 10,500 feet, so a warm bag matters. See which sleeping bags testers rate.

See the picks →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.