You’ll ascend a forested ridge, break out of the trees, and level off to wide-angle views of resplendent high cliffs. The beauty only intensifies as the trail crosses a brook in a broad meadow ringed by the mountain theater. After meandering through more meadows and spotty trees, the trail steepens for a final pitch to arrive at the lakes.
It’s fun to kick off your boots and go for a victory wade in shining Twin One. You can also visit its partner, though it’s hardly a twin. A sliver of the much larger second lake shimmers beneath the cirque-cliffs ahead.
You’re now in the heart of Rawah Wilderness, one of five Colorado tracts set aside by Congress in the original Wilderness Act of 1964. Looking around, it’s easy to approve of the name. “Rawah” comes from the Ute word ura’wa, meaning “crest of a mountain ridge” or “wild place.”
Twin Crater Lakes
From Denver. Take I-25 north to Exit 269B, then CO 14 west and US 287 north through Fort Collins. Turn left to continue west on CO 14 and proceed 57 miles up Poudre Valley. Turn right onto CR 103 (Laramie River Road), a dirt road, and continue for 6.8 miles to the parking lot for West Branch Trailhead, on the left. 3 hours.
12 Blue Lake of Poudre Valley
This gentle trail into the Rawah Wilderness features forest and meadow-clearings full of summer wildflowers. End rewards include a beautiful high lake and views to graceful snow-clad slopes in the Medicine Bow Range.
At a Glance
| Difficulty | Distance/Time | 10 miles/4.5 hours | |
| Trail Conditions | Trailhead ElevationTotal Hiking Gain | 9,500 feet1,500 feet | |
| Children | Features | Easy grade, forest, wildflowers, streams, alpine meadows, lake | |
| Scenery | Best Season | Summer | |
| Photo | Other Users | Bikes on lower portion, horses in some seasons, dogs on leash | |
| Solitude | Notes | Toilets at nearby Long Draw Winter Trailhead | |
| Property | Roosevelt National Forest, Rawah Wilderness | Jurisdiction | U.S. Forest Service |
Blue Lake Trail (FS 959) begins in moist forest with a creek rushing by on the left. Descend to cross it and continue downhill through arrow-straight lodgepoles. As the trail wraps the hillside, it widens into the bed of a bygone logging road.
Logging was particularly intense here in the late 1860s, when the first transcontinental railroad reached Cheyenne and continued west. These pines made excellent railroad ties and could be floated down the Poudre River to LaPorte for onward transport by ox train to Wyoming. For several years, a “tie hack”—i.e., any man with a saw and a broadax—could make $3 to $5 per day doing this work.
Blue Lake Trail
The road stays easy as it curves through the woods. Soon Chambers Lake appears below you on the right, named for a trapper who was scalped here by Indians in the late 1850s, or so the story goes. Later his son promoted local timber to the Union Pacific Railroad, and both the lake and the logging camps took the Chambers name. The lake size has since been increased by damming.
The footpath branches left from the old road and crosses a bridge over Fall Creek to enter Rawah Wilderness. Continue through a riverine forest, where flowers decorate the greenery between the tree trunks: lavender asters and columbines, orange Indian paintbrush, blue-purple mountain larkspurs, many yellows, all garnished with graceful white yarrow. Sometimes the forest gives way to meadow, and numerous seasonal streams burble across to keep everything green and damp.
Across the valley, you’ll see many standing dead lodgepoles, which indicate that pine beetles have infested the forest. When these ghostly trees fall, the remaining healthy ones will inhabit a much thinner, rejuvenating forest.
Snow-patched higher hillsides appear intermittently as you ascend through the woodland. The trail remains gentle as it alternates between dry, rocky stretches and wet forest and meadow. It’s a pleasant walk the whole way, with no pressing need to know how far you’ve gone or have still to go. In time, the green valley opens up and—perhaps sooner than you expected—Blue Lake appears downhill to the east. The trail has been so peaceful, you almost want to keep walking right up the green flanks of Clark Peak to the west. At 12,951 feet its unseen summit is the highest point in the lovely Medicine Bow Range.
Parry's primroses near Blue Lake
Meadows slope to the serene stone-ringed lake, and forest carpets the opposite hillside. To reach the lake, drop alongside a tumbling stream through a field of nodding yellow glacier lilies. After relaxing a bit on the shore, you can amble over rounded stones to the north end. Here at another inlet stream you’ll find a host of water-loving wildflowers, including the less common, bright violet (and rank-smelling!) Parry’s primrose.
Blue Lake
These beautiful mountains form the northern limit of Colorado’s Front Range, which extends into southern Wyoming. Their name comes with a story, as most things do in these parts. As told to early white settlers, Native American groups gathered every summer to make bows in a nearby valley full of mountain mahogany. While there, they performed ceremonies to invoke supernatural powers and cure diseases. This was relayed to the settlers as “making medicine” while “making bow.” Near-consensus is that the two terms merged into the name settlers gave to these mountains and their northern river: Medicine Bow.
If you want to hang out longer in this pristine wilderness, head for Hang Lake, higher up the side of Clark Peak.
From Denver. Take I-25 north to Exit 269B, then CO 14 west and US 287 north through Fort Collins. Turn left to continue on CO 14 (Poudre Canyon Road) and drive west 53 miles to the parking lot for Blue Lake Trailhead, on the right; additional parking is available at the nearby Long Draw Winter Trailhead. 2 hours, 40 mins.
13 Diamond Peaks
These tundra knobs high above Cameron Pass are easy to reach, and they make delightful catbird seats from which to look out over the Never Summer and Medicine Bow Ranges.
At a Glance
| Difficulty | Distance/Time | 6 miles/2.5 hours | |
| Trail Conditions | Trailhead ElevationTotal Hiking Gain | 10,000 feet1,900 feet | |
| Children | Features | Forest, alpine meadows, tundra, high mountain views | |
| Scenery |