Twin Crater Lakes and Upper Camp Lake Loop – Rawah Wilderness

Northern Colorado west of Fort Collins offers National Forest and Wilderness areas with lots of lakes which always appealed to me for backpacking and fishing. The Twin Crater Lakes and Upper Camp Lake Loop in the Rawah Wilderness is a fairly popular backpacking route that I decided to check out.

I’d planned on the approximately 23 mile trip taking 3 days with 2 nights on the trail. In the end, it was only 2 days. This trip seems well suited either two or three days depending on your hiking speed. Taking more time to explore some of the lakes and extending the trip would be a good alternative.

Getting There

The loop starts at the West Branch Trailhead off CR103. Getting there is a bit over 3 hours from Littleton. Going north on I-25 towards Fort Collins is not my favorite drive! The last hour or so follows the Cache la Poudre River, one of the many scenic routes in Colorado, and puts you back into a good mood appreciating the beauty of this wonderful state.

CR103 leaves CO 14 near Chambers Lake. The area around the lake has many dispersed campsites. It appears to be very popular and I can see why. The views are amazing and the lake is very beautiful. There were several people doing stand-up paddle boarding when I went by.

As I went around a curve in the road, I spotted Osprey in their large nest at the top of dead tree. One picture is of the kids checking me out and the other a better picture of mom.

The road to the trailhead is a pretty good dirt/gravel road. After about 6 miles I made it to the West Branch Trailhead ready to take on the Twin Crater Lakes and Upper Camp Lake Loop.

Twin Crater Lakes and Upper Camp Lake Loop – Day 1

The trail departs the parking area and follows the road for a brief distance as you can see in the background of the first picture below. It quickly heads to the right and begins following the West Branch creek. This section of the trail is relatively modest in incline although there are parts where you clearly know you are headed up! Some of my initial pictures were more blurry than I could tell on the LCD panel of the camera, frustrating.

At about 3.5 miles, the trail crosses the North Fork of the West Branch. There are several dispersed campsites in this really pretty area. A more casual backpacking trip is to hike out to this point and set up camp. From here, hiking up to Twin Crater Lakes, Carey Lake, and Island Lake would make for great day trips. Shortly after crossing the North Fork, the Rawah trail separates from the West Branch trail.

Rawah Trail to Twin Craters Lake

The Rawah trail rewards you with a bit more altitude gain which certainly gets my heart pumping. The initial part of the trail is rocky and warrants careful hiking. I wasn’t careful and took a good tumble catching a few rocks on the fall, always humbling. I enjoyed the forest and shaded hike on The Rawah Trail.

A little over 5 miles from the trailhead, the Twin Crater Lakes trail leaves the Rawah Trail. You notice you’re approaching the tree line as the forest thins out. At .25 miles on the Twin Crater Lakes branch, you cross the North Fork of West Branch again, one of the trickier stream crossings on the trip.

The area here is perfect for camping. My original plan was to camp near Twin Lakes so I scoped out some potential sites and spotted several candidates. There were no other backpackers in the area although the number of visible campsites suggests weekends get pretty busy.

Continuing up to Twin Crater Lakes, the trees give way to some great views. There was a gorgeous creek cascading down about 200′ of a steep ridge. The water seemed to come from Rockhole Lake. The pictures can’t clearly depict the scope of the cascades. It was one of many wonderful moments on this hike.

Another creek coming from Twin Crater Lakes was carving out a snowfield on the way up, just before the climb got really steep. As I ascended I was wishing my pack was about 20 pounds lighter! Crossing over the crest yields the beauty of Twin Crater Lakes. Wow, it was gorgeous.

Twin Crater Lakes

These two lakes provide a great alpine setting for rest and relaxation. I didn’t mind taking off my pack and enjoying some food. There was a bit of wind coming across the lake although it didn’t stop me from wanting to get out the fly rod.

The first cast into the lake had a taker but I was unable to land it. Over the course of the next hour, I only had two more fish on and failed to land both. There are some good-sized trout in the lake hanging out by the drop-off from the shallow area near the bank into deeper waters. All the strikes I had were on my dry flies including a royal humpy and elk hair caddis. Lots of willows and trees consistently messed with my backcast. I was getting a little lazy with my form creating loops which costs flies in the willows! After an hour, I decided I’d head down to check out the campsites and possibly return to the lake near sunset…or so I thought at that moment. There were some nice cloud formations as I left the lake.

Change of plans – continue on

A time check as I left the lake revealed it was only about 3:00PM. My legs still felt pretty good and the hike had only been about 6.5 to 7.0 miles so far. The appeal of hitting the lake at sunset was strong, but I decided to head along and see where I’d be by about 5:00PM.

I left the Twin Crater Lakes trail and headed north on the Rawah Trail towards Grassy Pass. During this section, I stopped to refill on water from one of the many creeks. Shortly after, I felt water dripping down the back of my pants and legs. Somehow my pack bladder had sprung a leak. It was a little disappointing since the bladder provides a great way to rehydrate as you hike. Luckily I carry Nalgene bottles and keep them filled for this type of event.

Crossing Grassy Pass to Rawah Lakes

The trail begins to ascend more steeply from 10,600′ up to the pass at 11,200′. The hike up to Grassy Pass was yet another highlight of this trip. The views ascending, traversing and descending the pass are really beautiful.

Rawah Lakes Area

As I descended Grassy Pass, my body suggested the nearby Rawah Lakes would be a good place to spend the night and going further would not be allowed. The Rawah Trail doesn’t go by Rawah Lake #3 although there is a path headed up to it. The lake is the larger of the three near the trail. Rawah Lake #4 looks to be the largest from a map, I didn’t hike up to either since my legs said no to any side excursion. I thought Rawah Lake #1 or #2 would make a good camping spot.

There were two other backpackers at Rawah Lake #2, with llamas! They had set up in the best campsite at Rawah Lake #2 which is at the south end of the lake. The area around the lake is categorized as an alpine restoration area so there are limited sites. I found what looked like an established site on the north end of the lake. It was right on the lake.

I got the fly rod out after setting up camp. There were plenty of fish rising on the lake and it was easy fishing. I’d catch a fish about 7 out of 10 casts. It didn’t matter that they were all small, it was a blast!

There are a lot of bugs in this area. The bug spray helped a little. Still, I’m surprised I didn’t feel faint from the blood loss to the mosquitoes! It was like an Illinois summer! The breeze coming across the lake kept them off me during dinner. Then I fished a little more and called it a night at dusk, hunkering in my tent and reading for a while.

Twin Crater Lakes and Upper Camp Lake Loop – Day 2

The morning sun quickly warmed up my tent pushing me to get up. The view leaving the tent was gorgeous. There were plenty of fish rising although I passed on hauling more of the little guys in. Based on my previous day’s hiking mileage, I figured this might be the last day on the trail. Next time I need to do better planning!

The section of trail from Rawah Lakes to Camp Lake is a great hike. The trail stays relatively flat and traverses through forest along a bubbling stream. There is an abundance of wildlife. I missed two great shots, one of a elk cow and another of a pine marten. The elk was planning to cross the trail in front of me but hesitated when she must have heard me. Before I could get the camera up, she took off bounding through the woods…an incredible sight revealing amazing grace for such a large animal. The pine marten was equally impressive scrambling around including climbing a tree. They are so fast that getting a shot of one seems difficult unless you plan a stakeout to photograph them. The deer just before Camp Lake was an easier shot. They always seem to enjoy staring at photographers.

It’s only about 2.5 miles from Rawah Lake #2 to Camp Lake. This lake is surrounded by meadows which makes for good camping. Hmmm, maybe that’s why the name is Camp Lake? There were a lot of small fishing rising here too. It seemed like another lake that would produce a lot of small fries on dry flies. I’d read bigger fish were up at Upper Camp Lake so I continued on up.

Upper Camp Lake

The trail to Upper Camp Lake passes through several flower meadows with a modest elevation gain. The short half-mile hike gave plenty of opportunities for flower pictures, I was happy.

The lake is large, and similar to Twin Crater Lakes was shallow near the shore dropping off to deeper waters about 10-20 yards out. The wind had me a little worried as it was blowing pretty strong. After a breakfast of jerky and a protein bar, I broke out my fly rod again.

I tried fishing several areas of the lake without success. This lake seems better suited to a spinning outfit on a windy day. I’m sure on quiet days the lake produces some good fish for fly fishing. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to happen for me so after about an hour, I packed up the rod and headed back down.

Back to the trailhead

It was only about 10:00AM so I knew that the trailhead was going to be my destination today. The Camp Lake trail doesn’t offer many camping options between Camp Lake and the trailhead. It wasn’t what I’d planned as I was hoping to get more nights in the wilderness. If I’d thought of it at the time, I’d have headed up to Lost Lake for another night. Alas, my planning tunnel vision kept me from seeing this option. I really need to break that old habit of sticking to the plan all the time.

Camp Lake Trail is relatively flat for several miles after Camp Lake. The descent starts about 4.5 miles from Camp Lake and picks up steam as it approaches the intersection with West Branch Trail. In the flat section I saw more flowers and butterflies plus a marmot who posed for me.

Just before West Branch, I came across an old log cabin next to the trail. People have been using it for a campsite.

There isn’t much to say about the rest of the trail back. It was pretty hot by the time I arrived at the trailhead around 2:00PM.

Twin Crater Lakes and Upper Camp Lake Loop Summary

This loop provided sensational exposure to the beauty of Colorado. There was plenty of fishing, wildlife, flowers, and butterflies. The only drawback was my lack of planning regarding length. The loop would have been better by extending the hike up to Lost Lake.

While a bit further away than Lost Creek Wilderness, I’ll be back to this area. Next time I’ll leave from the Rawah Trailhead heading up to Lost Lake. From there, it looks like there are great day trips or additional excursions up to McIntyre Lake and revisiting the Rawah Lakes.