Backpacking in the Snowy Range

We took a short backpacking trip in the Snowy Range on the Gap Lake Trail. The trail starts at the Lewis Lake TH and heads north over the gap and into a basin with several lakes in it. The trip can be as long or short as you want it to be. We made it over the gap, then detoured up to the Shelf Lakes.

I had heard that there were golden trout in the Shelf Lakes, and planned to try and catch at least one.

Unfortunately, I didn't see any or catch any. I tried everything, but there just didn't seem to be any golden trout in there. If they're there, they are few and far between. I had much better success with the cutthroat trout, although fishing was best early and late and they didn't bite much mid-day.

We hiked to a few other lakes in the area. Plenty of fish were rising, but I didn't bring my pole with me on the hike.

It was fun just roaming through the forest and looking around.

The wildflowers were beautiful though. Everywhere was full of wildflowers, but the areas along the streams and near lakes were the most colorful.

After staying overnight, we hiked back out the next day. The Shelf Lakes were beautiful though!

On the way out, we looked across North Gap Lake at Medicine Bow Peak. We wanted to try the peak, but it seemed like storms were moving in.

As we decended from the gap, we could see several lakes and Sugarloaf Mountain near the trailhead. The Snowy Range is definitely beautiful. The further in you get, the less people you see.

Nearest City: Centennial, WY

GPS Coordinates: N 41° 21.510 W 106° 17.678

Time Needed: Several hours if just hiking, several days if backpacking

Difficulty: Moderate

Kid Friendly: Yes- within reason

Additional Info:

Zimmerman Lake Backpacking

We took off Friday for a short backpacking trip to Zimmerman Lake. Zimmerman Lake is up Poudre Canyon almost to the top of Cameron Pass. It took us nearly an hour and a half to drive to the trailhead from Fort Collins. It was raining when we arrived at the trailhead, so we waited in the car for the rain to pass.

Fortunately, the time wasn't wasted. We saw a female moose browsing on a hillside across the highway from the trailhead.

We set out, and were amazed at the many beautiful wildflowers and mushrooms.

The clouds parted shortly after we arrived at the lake to set up camp. The hike in is along an old logging road and is only a mile. Campsites are available on the west and east sides of the lake.

There are also several lumber piles in the area- remnants from logging back in the day. We saw one along the road, and 2-3 more to the east of the lake.

The lake was really pretty about sundown when the breeze stopped and it got glassy. We could hear splashes from several greenback cutthroat trout jumping.

We enjoyed dinner and sat around the fire before we we retired to our tent for the night.

The next morning, we hiked to the top of the ridge southeast of camp (two pictures back). There isn't a trail, so we bushwhacked our way to the top. The views were incredible!

We wandered back down the mountain, enjoying the beauty of the many wildflowers as we hiked.

As we hiked down the road to the trailhead, we talked about how lucky we were to have avoided any serious rain. What a great short backpacking trip!

Nearest City: Laporte, Co

GPS Coordinates: N 40° 32.345 W 105° 52.935

Time Needed: 2 hours roundtrip, including time at the lake

Difficulty: Easy

Kid Friendly: Yes

Additional Info: The trail is an old logging road. Bring your fishing pole and try to catch greenback cutthroat trout in the lake. Restrooms are available at the trailhead.

Crown Peak & Crown Point

Saturday we bagged a few peaks up Poudre Canyon. We started at the Browns Lake Trailhead and climbed Crown Point and Crown Peak. The trailhead is 12 miles up the Crown Point Road, which is 4 miles up the Pingree Park Road from the main highway. It's a good dirt road and easily accessible with low clearance vehicles. The trailhead has space for about 20 cars, and we were surprised at how full it was when we got there.
The trail goes to Browns Lake, but there are two peaks which are slightly off trail. You can see a lower summit of Crown Point from the parking lot, but the higher peak is slightly further. The trail passes within a couple hundred yards of it. We had lunch at the peak.
Our original destination was just Crown Point, but then we checked the time, and decided to go on to Crown Peak since we weren't in a rush to get back to Fort Collins.

We're glad we pressed on. We hiked back down to the trail, then followed it and crossed the wilderness boundary to the Comanche Peak Wilderness as we decended into a small valley. From the top of the other side, we could see Crown Peak again, so we left the trail again to hike cross country to the peak. There's not a trail to the peak, so you just go wherever.


About 1/4 mile from the peak, we watched as a horse came over the rise. The horse had a halter, but nothing else. Apparently someone lost a horse up here and it found itself at home above timberline on the high tundra. The horse walked to within 50 yards of us, and continued on down the slope.

We continued on to the peak. We summited out at 11,711 feet. It was fun to enjoy the summit and look all around at the amazing views.
After about 10 minutes of resting at the summit, we turned around and headed back down the mountain.

We hiked about 5 miles and gained about 1500 feet in elevation in about 4 hours. It was a great little hike.

Nearest City: Laporte, Co
GPS Coordinates: N 40° 38.990 W 105° 41.894
Time Needed: 4 hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Kid Friendly: Doable with kids. It may take additional effort on your part though.
Additional Info: After we made it back, I heard that there is a crash site of an old bomber in the vicinity of Crown Peak. You may want to find additional information and go check it out.

Weekend Canoe Trip

As a kid, we'd do a canoe trip almost every year. Sometimes it was to Middle Piney Lake in Wyoming, but usually it was to the Green River Lakes. We'd load up our camping gear and canoes then meet up with a few uncles and cousins and head out. At the lakes, we'd canoe across the lake, pull the canoes up the river, canoe across the upper lake, and then set up camp. Half of the fun was planning the trip and the building anticipation that came as the trip got closer. Another huge part was just getting there; the drive, canoeing, and the adventures we'd have on the way. Once camp was set up, we'd have a whole week to fish, explore, canoe, hike, roll rocks down cliffs, and just have a grand old time! It was always a sad day when we'd pack up and return home. On the drive home we'd talk about the good times we had and start anticipating the next trip. With so many fine memories, a canoe trip was definitely something I wanted to do with Ashley.

Upon moving to Colorado last summer, I started looking for places a canoe trip would work. I also started looking for a canoe to borrow. I had no luck finding a canoe, but did find a place we could have a great canoe trip. The Big Creek Lakes were about 2 hours away and had 2 lakes connected by a creek that was navigable. We weren't able to make the trip last year, but when some friends called up and mentioned going we jumped on the opportunity. Unfortunately due to some unforeseen circumstances including rainy weather and a burned foot, we were the only ones who ended up going.

We left Fort Collins at 8 on Friday, and arrived at the lake at 11. The rain was threatening, but we decided that rain or shine, we were going to carry on. We unloaded the canoe, put our camping gear inside, all carefully wrapped in garbage bags to keep everything dry. After putting on our lifejackets and ponchos, we shoved off for the opposite shore.

We paddled and paddled. The rain lightly drifted down on us. After a while we saw the inlet. We pulled ashore and looked at the river. Ultimately we decided just to camp there, and to explore the river and upper lake later. We set up camp at a great location and got a fire going. After relaxing a while and having dinner, the weather cleared up a bit and we decided to go explore.

Getting to the upper lake took two short portages. For the first one I carried the canoe about a hundred yards through the woods. Then we put the canoe in the creek and somewhat paddled and somewhat shoved our way upstream. Right below the second lake there was a logjam in the creek, so we got out of the canoe and pulled it over the logjam.

On the creek between the lakes.

Upper Big Creek Lake is a lot more scenic than the lower lake is. The mountains are closer and more impressive and since it is less accessible than the lower lake, it is a lot more serene. We paddled around and fished a little bit.

We beached the canoe at the top of the second lake and went on a short hike to see the waterfall. Big Creek Falls is a pretty impressive cascade, but it is challenging to photograph. Because this year has been so wet there were TONS of mosquitoes all along the trail just waiting for two tasty looking hikers to snack on. We kept moving.
Because the sun was getting low, we returned to camp. Ash accidentally burned her jacket and almost one of the paddles.

Oops!

Near camp was a 2-seater outhouse. We thought it would be useful for the times that you've both just gotta go.

After a mellow evening in camp, we retired to our tent. Shining the lights around, we saw lots of mosquitoes wanting to come inside with us. The next morning they were still waiting.

We made breakfast in our dutch oven. Oh yeah! What a perfect way to start the Independence Day. We piddled around a bit longer, then seeing the clouds darkening again, we decided to pick up camp and return home. What a great trip it was!

Nearest City:
GPS Coordinates:
Time Needed: 2 days
Difficulty: Moderate
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:

The Shelf Lakes in the Snowy Range

This past weekend we headed up to the Snowy Range in Wyoming to look for some Golden Trout. When we got to the trail head, the parking area was closed because of snow... lucky for us though, the snow wasn't bad, and it kept people away! We parked at another trail head just up the road and hiked in to the shelf lakes about 2.5 miles.

It was really pretty, and Ben said it was his favorite backpacking trip so far this year. We didn't have any luck getting a Golden, but Ben picked up some nice Cutthroats which we ate one of and brought the rest home to smoke. It was a really fun weekend.

If any of you are interested in the fishing, I had success for cutthroats on top with a renegade fly behind a bubble. Fishing was best about dusk. I'd suggest trying something like a scud or some type of nymph imitation down deeper if you're going for a golden since we didn't see any on top. If you've been there, please add a comment on your experience & the fishing!

We stopped here for lunch just past the parking area and tried out Bens new backpacking stove and pots-- They work great!

The CHEESIEST Mac N' Cheese

This is a cute little Brookie I caught. He became part of our dinner since I had never caught a fish while backpacking and eaten it.

The rest of dinner

Nearest City: Centennial, WY
GPS Coordinates:
Time Needed:
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Kid Friendly:
Additional Info:

Creedmore Lakes 6/27-28/08

With all of our family vacationing this weekend, we thought we'd take off and join them- at least in theory. Destination: Creedmore Lakes. We took off mid-afternoon on Friday and got home mid-afternoon Saturday. It was a great little getaway. If you have kids, this one is a good one for them too. It's away from the crowds of Poudre Canyon, and we think it is prettier too. We parked at N. 40.51.312 W. 105.35.512 and camped at N 40.51.927 W. 105.34.907.

The hike was enjoyable, and not very long at all... although it was long enough to get away from people. It was only about a 1.5 mile hike in. After setting up camp we made some tortillas for quesadillas, which were great! Note: Bringing in some cheese, a jalapeno, tortillas, and dried refried beans work great for backpacking. Lightweight and delicious! We actually made our own tortillas, cause they taste better, and tortillas are SUPER expensive in Colorado, not sure why, they just are.

After dinner we took a walk down to the North Fork of the Poudre River (to pump water) and it was really pretty! On the way we found a really cool rockpile where the base rock had split into 4 pieces, with a humongous boulder sitting on top of the two largest ones- making somewhat of an arch. The cracks below were 2-3 feet wide and were pretty cool to climb around it.

This camping trip was probably the prettiest one we have been on yet here in Colorado... plus the wildflowers here are beautiful.

Creedmore Lake #1

Near our destination.

Ash making tortillas for dinner.

Climbing around in some rocks.

North Fork of the Poudre River.

Evening by our campsite.

The way cool rocks at the 3rd lake.

Wildflowers.

Nearest City: Red Feather Lakes, CO
GPS Coordinates:
Time Needed:
Difficulty:
Kid Friendly:
Additional Info: