Camp Lake Trail

The Camp Lake Trail doesn't ease you in — it starts where the West Branch Trail lets you off, about 2.7 miles into the Rawah Wilderness, and immediately points uphill. The first mile and a quarter is the hard part: a steep, rocky, badly eroded grind that gains roughly a thousand feet as it climbs north above the West Branch of the Laramie River. Stop to breathe and you'll earn the reward — the tread finally levels and opens to big views of Cameron Peak, Clark Peak, and the green valley falling away below you. This is high, wet, willow-and-lodgepole country where moose are genuinely common, so make noise, keep your distance, and keep a dog on a hand-held leash the whole way.

Once you top out, the trail mellows into something almost strange: for about two miles it runs dead flat along the bed of the old Link Ditch, past the tumbledown cabins where crews — more than 150 workers, many of them Japanese and Greek — blasted a mile of channel through this basin between 1904 and 1907, only for a Supreme Court ruling to order it breached and never used. Shortly after North Fall Creek the path forks (the Loop Trail bends right along the dike; the main trail climbs left toward Camp Lake), and near the far end a washed-out stringer bridge over Rawah Creek and an unbridged Camp Creek crossing can turn dangerous in high runoff. Go prepared: trails stay soggy and thick with mosquitoes into mid-July, so pack a head net, treat your water, and give yourself the daylight this one deserves.

Trail Facts

Getting There

The Camp Lake Trail has no trailhead of its own — you reach it on foot. Drive up the Poudre Canyon on CO-14, turn onto the Laramie River Road (CR-103), and park at the West Branch Trailhead. Hike the West Branch Trail about 2.7 miles into the Rawah Wilderness to the signed Camp Lake Trail junction, where this route begins (mile 0). The Laramie River Road is closed by snow in winter and typically doesn't open until late June, so plan for a summer-or-later trip & expect wet, buggy tread early in the season.

Know Before You Go

• Moose country. Moose are common through here, especially near Camp Lake and Upper Camp Lake — give them a wide berth, never get between a cow and calf, and keep your dog leashed and close.
• Steep, eroded start. The first 1.25 miles climb about 1,000 feet on rocky, badly washed-out tread — watch your footing, and it's the crux both going up and coming down.
• Wilderness rules. This is the Rawah Wilderness: no bikes or wheeled conveyances, no motorized use, and group size is capped at 12 (people and stock combined).
• Sketchy water crossings. The stringer bridge over Rawah Creek near the trail's end is gone, and an unbridged Camp Creek crossing above Camp Lake can be impossible or unsafe in high runoff — don't force a swollen ford.
• Wet and buggy early. Trails stay soggy with heavy mosquitoes into mid-July (later in wet years) — bring a head net and repellent, and treat all water before drinking.
• Dogs on a hand-held leash with hikers (voice control only with stock); pack out what you pack in and camp at least 200 feet from water and trail.
• Stock feed rule. To stop noxious weeds, stock must be fed only pellets or certified weed-free hay throughout the trip — and the eroded lower grade makes this a difficult ride.