Hiking West Branch Trail to Island and Crater Lakes | Rawah Wilderness

Hiking West Branch Trail provides an excellent opportunity to access the wildly scenic beauty of the Rawah Wilderness. The Rawah Wilderness is a bit of a hidden gem located about 75 miles west of Fort Collins in northern Colorado. This area has been carved and shaped by glaciers creating a dramatic landscape of high peaks and beautiful cirque lakes. Hiking West Branch Trail leads to a number of these incredible features. Or take one of the trail branches to reach the many other worthwhile destinations that can be found throughout the Rawah Wilderness.

Hiking West Branch Trail is an amazing adventure to Island Lake and Carey Lake. From here, return to the
trail fork with Rawah Trail to add on the beautiful Twin Crater Lakes. Or for the more experienced hiker,
from Carey Lake carefully make your way up the saddle then down to reach Crater Lakes on the other side. But be warned, this is a challenging option. In this article, follow us as we hike West Branch Trail reaching several gorgeous lakes. Then we complete a lollipop style hike that allows us to see even more alpine lakes before making our way back to the trailhead.

Quick Info: Hiking West Branch Trail

Directions: From Walden, follow CO-14 E for about 37 miles then turn left onto Hohnholz Lakes Rd. After 1.5 miles the road will turn into N CR 103. Follow it straight for about 5.5 miles and the parking area will be on the left. Or click here to get directions to the West Branch Trailhead.

Distance: About 15 miles roundtrip

Difficulty: Moderately strenuous with a difficult saddle option

Trailhead: There is a large parking area that from our experience, always seems to look quite busy. There
are also vault toilets and an info board.

Our Experience Hiking West Branch Trail

We arrived at West Branch Trailhead on a Wednesday around eleven and the parking area looked pretty busy. But we weren’t all that surprised because it was packed when we drove past it for our backpacking Rawah Trail adventure last week.

We began hiking West Branch Trail and it paralleled the road then brought us out to the road. Then we
reached a small dirt road by the bridge and other structures. The trail continues here by following the dirt road to the right along the water.

There were no signs here but a bit further up the trail there is a sign for West Branch Trail with an arrow indicating a left turn over the bridge.

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After the bridge, the trail leads through the mixed conifer and aspen forest to a small junction where the
trail meets up with the trail to the nearby Tunnel Campground. From here, it didn’t take long before we were greeted by the Rawah Wilderness boundary sign.

The next section of the hike to Island Lake is a pretty gradual climb through the woods, past some cool
boulders and several small water crossings. Along the way, the views begin to open up here and there with some pretty meadow views and exposing the mountains in the distance. We passed the junction for the trail to Camp Lake and then also the junction with Blue Lake Trail. There are definitely plenty of routes
branching off West Branch Trail to access numerous features in the Rawah Wilderness.

At around the three mile mark we reached a large river crossing with lots of logs to help us get across with dry feet. And then we reached the split with Rawah Trail but continued hiking West Branch Trail towards Island and Carey Lakes.

Hiking to Island Lake and Carey Lake

The next three and a half miles seemed to ascend a bit steeper and the views got a bit more exciting. Since the views opened up more, we were able to spot a moose down by the stream in the distance. But we just kept moving and it just watched us pass. As we were hiking West Branch Trail the rest of the way to the lakes, it was a steady climb among a beautiful alpine landscape.

And then we spotted Carey Lake! This is where the defined trail ends.

We made our way over to Island Lake and it was beautiful! Island Lake is a pretty big lake with a cool island and a rocky shore in a dramatic cirque. We rock hopped along the shore and found a good rock to hang out on. Across the lake we spotted two other people, surprisingly the first that we’d seen all day.

Since we hiked all the way here and it was so beautiful, plus the summer season is coming to an end and the water was deep enough near the shore to jump in, we found enough reasons to convince ourselves that we should take the cold plunge. And we did, a few times!

The water was so cold that all I could think after jumping in was getting out. Then once we got out, the cool mountain wind was pretty cold too haha. But it was exhilarating and we were so glad we did it.

We filtered some water, ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and watched a bald eagle soar overhead all while taking in the gorgeous landscape around us. As always, there was more we wanted to see so we got moving.

From Island Lake, we hiked back over towards Carey Lake with our sights set on the saddle on the other side. After previously not having enough time to see the Twin Crater Lakes on our Rawah Trail backpacking trip, we were pretty set on seeing them this time.

Adventure on the Saddle

So we followed a couple quickly disappearing cairns, and some animal trails as we made our one steep step at a time to the top of the saddle. From the top of the saddle we were able to look back on the lakes we just came from and we finally got to set our eyes on the Twin Crater Lakes! The vast alpine landscape was incredible in every direction.

After successfully reaching the saddle and being mesmerized by the gorgeous scenery, we then realized that the way down to Crater Lakes did not look very welcoming. This side of the saddle was very steep and covered in unstable boulders of varying sizes. But once we started, there was no going back. I pretty much crab walked very slowly and carefully down the mountain as a very calm bighorn sheep watched on curiously.

After what felt like forever we finally made it down to the shore of Crater Lake. As we looked back up at
what we just came down I was definitely glad it was over, and glad we were safe on flat(ish) ground.

The Final Stretch

Crater Lakes were absolutely beautiful! I think the color of the water combined with the setting and our
various vantage points made these two lakes among my favorite in the Rawah Wilderness. We followed a faint trail around the lake and eventually reached the main trail.

Shortly after we began our descent, we ran into two other hikers on their way up. All in all, we only saw five other hikers all day. But we expected to see many more with such a full trailhead.

On the way back, it was getting late so we were focused on getting back while we still had daylight. The
trail descends quickly through the woods until it meets back up with West Branch Trail. And we followed
West Branch Trail back down through the woods back to the parking area at the trailhead.

We had an amazing time hiking West Branch Trail!

For What It’s Worth

Having accessed the Rawah Wilderness now from both Rawah Trailhead and West Branch Trailhead, I’d have to say that I enjoyed the latter more. I think the approach on Rawah Trail is steeper, longer and a bit unremarkable for a long duration. It just took too long to get to the good stuff, even the wilderness boundary was a much further hike. But once you make it into the wilderness, I think the scenery and landscape features are both comparable – so, gorgeous! And lastly, even though the West Branch Trail parking area was much busier, both allowed for plenty of solitude. Enjoy!

Thanks for Reading About Our Adventure Hiking West Branch Trail

We have had such an amazing time hiking and exploring in Colorado! If you’d like to read about some of our other adventures, check out the links below:

• Hiking Long Lake Loop + Mt Elwell
• Backpacking Lassen Volcanic National Park
• Big Loop Hike in Chiricahua National Monument
• Devils Causeway to Mosquito Lake Loop

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