In September 2025, I visited the Rawah (Ray-Wah) Wilderness for an overnight backpacking trip with my two cousins—Michael and Ben—and Michael's girlfriend, Gabby. Zulu, my excitable dog, also joined for this trip. This was the second time I've backpacked the Rawah Wilderness here in Colorado. The first time was my first ever backpacking trip back in October of 2021. To say it's beautiful would be an understatement. I enjoy this Wilderness area quite a lot due to both visits being relatively low traffic. I'm not much of a fan of seeing other folks when out on backpacking trips.
The drive from my home in Boulder was about 2.5 hours. The drive alone was quite beautiful once we got onto Poudre Canyon Road. Taking a drive along this road is a day-trip I would recommend for anyone who is looking for a low-key activity. I took up fly fishing in 2025 and there were many stops I would have loved to fish, but my party was eager to get there so that's going to be a trip for next time!
Once we arrived at the trailhead and got ready, we made our way to the West Branch trail. The first mile or so was all gravel road, but we could see some Aspen groves in the distance changing color. Within 30 minutes we were within those groves well on our way up to Twin Crater Lakes.
Here are a couple of photos taken at the beginning of our hike.
Early along the route, we were hiking parallel to a creek. It was audible, but not visible for most of it until we reached a cliff area. You could peer over the cliff and watch the water crashing down the natural waterfall. A father and daughter found their way to that waterfall and were enjoying their time together down there. It was a great lunch spot, but that's not where we stopped.
Around 3.5 miles in we came to a creek crossing. It was wide and shallow and crystal clear. This was also a crossing for stock or those on horseback. As we moved past this crossing, we turned West off of our Southwesterly direction and onto the Rawah Trail. The trail continued to get more and more beautiful as we went. We stopped for lunch about a mile past this turn on a large fallen tree. I took the opportunity to take out the fly rod and attempt to fish on the crystal clear creek. I was unsuccessful, but enjoyed it nonetheless.
After our lunch break, we began the second half of our hike that day. We had about 2.5 miles remaining and roughly 1300ft of elevation gain remaining. This section was quite steep and I was struggling quite a lot. I had a hard time exercising during 2025 due to work obligations and other things. It was disheartening for this portion to be such a struggle, but I'm glad that I was able to complete it. Luckily everyone was patient and was happy to wait for me.
As I was dying, we broke out of the dense forest and into a wide open area with scenery that made my struggles worth it. I'll let the photo speak for itself. Golden grass, wildflowers, snowy mountains, with a beautiful blue sky. A typical Colorado summer day.
We were on the home-stretch now. However, the altitude was killing me. We found our way to the last mile of the hike and it was a 20% grade incline that we had to get through. I took one look at it and knew that I needed to take a break before taking it on. Again, the patience of my party was incredibly welcome. They even helped out with Zulu! Something I am always grateful for.
After a much needed break, we got started on the incline. It was quite steep, and dry with loose dirt, so it was somewhat slippery. We made it to the top within a reasonable amount of time and were greeted by the beautiful twin lakes at the top. All we had left to do was find a camping spot so that we could set up camp as well as prepare a couple of fly fishing rods to see if we might be able to catch anything.
The twin lakes are separated by a rocky and grassy strip of terrain with a small stream where the Southern lake drains into the Northern lake when the water levels are higher. The Southern lake abuts the rocky and steep mountains and is not easily traversed around. The Northern lake is able to be navigated around easily without too much rock crawling.
We explored the area for 15 or 20 minutes and found a decently flat protected area between the two lakes. This is where we decided to set up camp. However, I was eager to attempt to fish, so before setting up camp, I helped Gabby set up one rod for her first time while I set up the other. She did great! I put a leech on my rod but I'm not sure what we put on the other.
The two lakes are pretty good for fishing! We saw one group of backpackers catch and keep a fish that they caught. We weren't as lucky. I think having a spinning rod would have helped us be more successful. We fished the smaller Northern lake first. Both lakes had adequate back casting space for us so we were able to cast out pretty far. This was the first time I'd fly fished a lake. It was pretty fun!
We also attempted to fish the larger Southern lake. As you can see in the photo, this was a pretty rocky lake. It seemed pretty deep too. No fish were visible. The hike further South was a little bit sketchy. I had to navigate some difficult rocks and a cliffside with risk of falling into the lake. That was an interesting experience while also holding Zulu on leash.
While we were fishing, Michael was casting using my cheap reel and line. Somehow the reel worked itself off and fell into the water. There was no way he was going to get into that freezing water so he had to unspool the entire line in order to get it back. I was watching from a distance and heard him exclaim something. When I walked over he was spooling the line back up. It took a good bit of time to get it back together.
At this point, we were calling it quits. Some clouds were rolling in and it was getting chilly so setting up camp and getting started on dinner became our priority. I've been using an old Kelty 2-person tent for the last few years. It's definitely not a backpacking tent as it's quite heavy, but it works well enough. I could stand to lose some weight in my pack though. It was probably 50lbs!
For dinner I brought original SPAM, boiled eggs, and ramen noodles. Not the cheaper Top Ramen, but the "Nongshim Shin Ramyun Black"... So just barely more fancy. I've been having ramen noodles on my most recent trips due to burning out on the dehydrated prepackaged meals you can buy at REI. After awhile those things all start to taste the same and the texture gets to you. Ramen noodles taste delicious after a long hike.
I brought a camping pan which I used to fry up the SPAM. Once it had some color, I added it into my ramen noodles which I boiled in my JetBoil. I added the boiled eggs in there too. I'll admit, I thought the SPAM would taste better than it did. I've watched a ton of YouTube videos where people swear by SPAM and eggs or fried spam on certain dishes. I wish I was a fan, but I wasn't. There's a porky flavor to it which I don't enjoy. I avoid pork chops for the same reason.
Cooking this elaborate backpacking meal turned out interesting as it became windy and rainy. I was working on keeping the JetBoil lit, huddling within pine. Luckily it wasn't a pouring rain and just a sprinkle. It was still unpleasant. Everyone else was in their tents keeping dry. They'd already cooked and eaten by that time.
As the rain subsided, and dinner was finished, we all hung out for a while at a slightly raised area where Ben was camping. It had a nice view of the lake. This little hang out session didn't last too long as the wind was still blowing and as the sun set it was getting colder. We all turned in for the night without getting to stargaze.
I hadn't been sleeping too well when backpacking on earlier trips, but this time was much better with my new sleeping pad. Before the trip I purchased a new fancy inflatable Thermarest sleeping pad. It's light and small while carrying, but very comfortable when expanded. A result of modern sleeping pad manufacturing technology I suppose. It better be comfy given that it was $200! I plan to use it for many upcoming trips in 2026!
The next morning we were all well-rested. I attempted to fish again. I had one fish take a little nibble of the elk hair caddis I had on there, but still nothing hooked. I gave up shortly after that thinking that I must be doing something wrong. I'll have to keep practicing and researching. I had quite a lot of luck early in the year in some creeks so it was a little frustrating to not catch anything.
We had breakfast and the weather began to get windy and rainy again. The crew was tired and cold so it was time to say goodbye to the Twin Crater Lakes and the Rawah Wilderness. We all had a great time. I'll hopefully be back in the Rawahs with new cardio fitness in 2026. I'll definitely be catching something on the fly rod too. It's a goal of mine to catch a fish and cook it over a fire while out on a trip. I can't wait!
Here's a map of the route that we took.
You can view additional photos and the higher resolution versions using the "View Gallery" button below.