Hub Lake and Hazel Lake

11/10/19 Great hike. I moved a couple medium sized logs off in last 1/3 of trail. Road driving in wasnt so bad; little soft and slushy in some spots. Trail had only couple of spots with a little snow.

We did an overnight backpack on 9/21/19 and definitely in my top five hikes of all time. The trail is steep in places and short so I would consider the hike on the moderate side of hard. The huge cedar trees and waterfalls were spectacular. At Hazel Lake, there was four nice campsites and we had the lake to ourselves. We located a mine above Hazel Lake which I believe is the Aladdin Gold Mine. We went into the mine about 100 ft which I would not recommend.

We loved this hike. The lake was beautiful and peaceful. We were the only ones on the trail, very easy access to the trail head.

Phone read 6.2m in 2:11:05 with 1699ft of gain. I went to the base of Hub Lake and turned around. If it hadn’t been after work on a weekday would have loved to make an attempt at one of the peaks. Truly beautiful views at the lake. Highly recommend the hike. Dirt road approaching the trail could have been ridden on a Vespa it was in such good condition.

Just back from a lovely weekend on the trail. Packed in Sat afternoon, out on Mon. Encountered 5-6 day hikers (most with dogs) on Sat, 1 on Sun, none on Mon. The hike was beautiful: well marked and maintained trail; good diversity of terrain; lovely vistas, streams and waterfalls. Hazel Lake emerges through the forest at mile ~3. Would have been a lovely spot to camp. We opted to continue on to Hub Lake at mile 3.4. Campsite was well used but clean. Plenty of dry timber for firewood and no shortage of water to (filter and) drink along the trail or at the campsite. Secluded and quiet: primary sounds were wind in the trees, waterfall in the distance and birds. Saw a few critters: Marmot, black squirrels, chipmunks, a few tiny snakes sunning themselves on rocks, and one bird of prey that appeared to be a golden eagle. Remarkably few bugs. We saw droppings from deer or elk but didn’t spot anything big. Was my first use of AllTrails. I hadn’t internalized that the round trip 7.2 mi distance assumed trailhead-to-summit rather than trailhead-to-lake. Should have downloaded the waypoints overlay to remind us before getting off the grid.

It was an amazing trail. Little overgrown towards the very end of trail, but very much worth it. Going to the second lake, Hub Lake, at the base of Eagle Peak was spectacular. Spent the day on the shore with a only a moose and the fish that jumped out of the water for bugs. Will definitely go back for an overnight stay!

Beautiful trail. Our 13 year old dog got tired but the mountain streams were a life saver. We enjoyed a swim in Hub Lake. The fish were jumping all over. Highly recommend this trail.

Road in was in good shape. Trail was in fairly good condition. went to Hazel and Hub.

Great hike. Took us 4 hours total. We got off of exit 26 on 90 E (we are staying in De Borgia). Then took the dirt road (889) 6 miles to the trailhead and parked on the side of the road. Stunning views. Met some great people walking their dogs but it wasn’t busy.

wonderful weekend with great weather! if you enjoy backpacking this trail is really easy with a lot of pay off! there was about three other parties present. lots of water sources available the whole hike and if you summit eagle ridge the views are amazing. can't wait to go back.

Nice single wide trail with pine needles or rocks to walk on. The trail was in good shape, with a bit of snow at the top. There was a stream to cross at the top where the snow began and it was hard to tell where the trail picked up on the other side Because I couldn’t tell and would have gotten wet, I just turned around. The whole hike took around 3 hours and there were only 3 other hikers that I encountered on a weekday.

Had a ton of fun! Couldn’t finish the last mile, but had I tried a little harder and been more familiar, I probably could have made it work.

Great to see rain forest and old-growth cedar groves, waterfalls, typical Montana forest, and high mountain lakes, all in one trip. My daughter and I left Missoula at 10:30 am, and were back in Missoula 8 hours later. Easy, and great, day trip.

Beautiful! Towering cedars at the beginning. We made it to hub lake, not a ton of areas of camping and pretty steep getting down to the lake but well worth it. Made for a pretty awesome weekend.

One of my favorite trails in the Great Burn! I love walking through the giant cedar groves. You’ll earn it as you climb to Hub Lake in the second mile - a good deal of incline. But lots of huckleberries if you time it right! Bugs were present at the lake but the breeze and some bug spray mostly kept them at bay. Don’t miss out on this one!

Good hike with some neat waterfalls along the way. Pretty steep in some parts but overall not terrible. The upper lake (hub) is definitely worth the extra half mile up. Clear water lakes perfect for a quick dip. Over all enjoyable as a nice day hike.

Scenic trail that wasn't hard even with an overnight pack. I shared the trail with elderly and children. The skeeters at Hub Lake are thick and hungry; otherwise a great adventure.

Beautiful day, waterfalls, lakes, good incline, shade and sun, couldnt have had a better hike today! Wandering around the lakes was worth adding the extra mileage! Mosquitos were terrible at Hub but great campsites! This is now one of my favs!!

Very convenient to get to, and you still get to experience some beautiful backcountry scenery. We also were able to find a very good patch of huckleberries. Highly recommend checking this one out. Make sure to see the views from the ridge line hike up to Ward Peak.

Beautiful hike!!! nice trail big cedars.

Excellent and definitely moderate with steep sections. We logged 3.6 according to two fitbits and 2000 ft elevation gain. Trail in excellent shape. Take exit 26 off I 90 then 6.2 mi on gravel road. TH obvious on right side.

The map displayed is wrong as compared to the description as is the directions to reach the 262 trailhead. This is a top to bottom entrance and well this area is all about elevation; thus if you want to hike your tail off on the way out go for it. But I prefer the more difficult stuff the first day when fresh. Take exit 26 near Deborgia, MT. This is a tricky exit so be prepared when nearing it. Go 6.5 on up 886 to the trail head 262, just before the bridge. From hear take trail 262 to trail 280.We hiked in a dusk and had no issues with finding our way. The trail is steep and unrelentless with gain in elevation but worth every penny. Hazel lake doesnt offer many places to camp so we just went straight to Hub lake and camped at the west end of the lake where the majority of campsites were. Misquitos were thick to say the least. From the lake I highly recommend hiking to the top of Eagle peak and view all 5 lakes in the area. The trail is easy to follow and didnt have to scramble. The waterfalls above Hub lake we bush whacked to but was worth getting up on them. Definitely take time to check out the abandoned mine shaft as well. I highly recommend this hike, just be prepared to work hard for those 3 mi! No sign of bear though we hung our food anyway.

This was my first multi day hiking experience and it was amazing! We hiked up from the 262 trailhead. The old growth cedars were beautiful and the climb was fairly easy until we connected with trail 280 and started the uphill switchbacks where the trail became steeper. We camped at Hazel lake the first night. There is only one really good camp site at this lake as most of the shore line is very brushy. We continued to Hub lake the next day and set camp in a beautiful little spot next to the lake. There is still a fair amount of snow so most of the lower camp sites have water in them. We decided to hike to Eagle Peak and ran into a lot of snow in the saddle between Ward Peak and Eagle Peak. We lost the trail several times so we ended up wandering until we ran across the trail again. The views from Eagle Peak are amazing and well worth the climb! We could see all four lakes from where we stood. Hazel, Hub, Mary and Square Lakes. Over all this was a challenging hike but was not as difficult as I was expecting. We hiked this in late June and had beautiful weather the entire time.

Gorgeous hike! More difficult than I was expecting but absolutely worth it. The scenery and the crazy amount of ripe huckleberries made the hike enjoyable still. As another reviewer already stated, don't bring a heavy pack!

I'll say right up front, we took this one from the top and not the bottom and it was awesome! We parked in a giant campsite above Square Lake, and simply hiked the perfectly clear ridge line all the way to Ward Peak. The smell of Spruce was amazing! Ward is just above Mary Lake, which was our intended camp spot, but we could not find a way to get to it that felt safe. Also, Mary Lake has a bit of an algae issue at the moment, so we found the trail to Hub and went down to it. The weather right now is perfect, the colors are amazing, and we had Hub to ourselves. Spent a moment checking out the mine at Hub, and then took the trail that runs through meadows on the south side of Wark until we connected with a Forest Service road and back to our car. Great hike with stunning views.

great hike, steady incline not for beginners. don't bring a heavy pack

This is a great hike that delivers a lot in a short time. I took my son on his first overnight backpacking trip on this trail on the last week of June. He is 100% hooked on backpacking as a result. You wander through giant old cedar forest, along a rushing rocky trout stream with a super waterfall just before you start the uphill switchbacks on fairly open mountainside. We hit snow on top in the last week of June about where the log "bridge" crosses the creek but we were able to push through some 8' snow pack to the lake where we found only one dry spot (snow is melting and drying out fast though). The vistas on the hike and upon reaching the lake are wonderful with high granite bluffs, snow cornice tops, crystal clear water. With the melt we had 8 waterfalls surrounding camp. There was still enough snow pack in areas to play around with snowball fights and practicing some short glissading. Overall and awesome hike.

amazing vista. cutthroat trout.waterfall at hazel lake(1/2 mile trip).dahl sheep.elevated campsite. a must-do.

Hub Lake is a scenic easy-moderate 3 mile hike from the trailhead. Perfect for a short backpacking trip or long day hike. You will see beautiful cedar forest, amazing waterfalls, and two lakes along the trail (including Hub Lake). There are two mountain peaks viewable, and hikable from the Lake. Advise you go mid-late summer as there is still quite a bit of snow in the early summer and downed trees have not yet been removed.