OTHER Trip Report 09/08/2015

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Clark Peak - 12951 Cameron Peak - 12127
Date Posted	09/08/2015
Date Climbed	08/23/2015
Author	Kitten
Additional Members	Mountain Mike

Rawah Wilderness: Clark Pk & Cameron Pk.
Day 1: Backpack to below Blue Lake (4 miles approx.) Trail: Blue Lake Trailhead (Rawah Wilderness) Day 2: Summit of two nearby peaks: Clark Pk (Northeast ridge) Cameron Pk. (West ridge) Distance: 8 miles from and to camp (for both peaks) Elevation gain: 3,935 Time: 7 hours Elevation at camp: 10,500 Tired of I-70 and 285 and their traffic jams, this time we decided to go North, yes, the Rawah Wilderness! So many years in Colorado and still hadn't visited this area. Now we are hooked to it! I haven't seen any trip reports describing these two peaks in one day, so I thought I would add our trip report and routes taken, along with some pictures. And a moose story below. The Blue Lake and Hang Lake areas are closed to camping, so we just hiked the first 4 miles and camped there, about half a mile below Blue Lake. Blue Lake Trailhead Blue Lake the night before the climb Blue Lake and trail on the right side. Notice the smoke from the wildfires View from Blue Lake Pass (10,750) Once on the pass, we picked up a faint trail and followed it through some willows and up to the grassy slope. Our approximate route to the ridge in red in the picture. Route we followed to the ridge A closer look We stayed on the left side of the ridge here First part of the ridge Ridge Went to the right side of the ridge on the next bump. Clark Pk. seems far away... Clark Pk in the distance Tundra These creatures know how to camouflage well... Can you spot the 6 ptarmigans? A look back to the ridge Still far away... Point 12,561 in the distance Looking back From point 12,561 looking at Clark Pk. Final approach Another look back Final steps to the summit You can see the smoke line here looking west. Summit and views to the West Windy summit Summit pic This is a funny picture I took zooming down on the patch of willows above Hang Lake. At that time I thought I had seen a moose down there, but it turned out to be a stump, oh well, too lazy to delete the picture. Then later when transferring the pictures to the computer there was a surprise on the upper part of the pic! Two bull moose laying on the creek... later we would see the rest of the family... Upper side: Are those moose?? Hang Lake and Blue Lake down there. Also Cameron Pk. Timber Lake and Island Lake in the distance Down on the ridge again... Our next goal: Cameron Pk. You can see the trail at the bottom of the pass going up. We followed a faint trail all the way to the saddle and then hiked the remaining ridge. Cameron Pk. Steep tundra Saddle between point 12,054 and Cameron Pk Final approach to summit Clark Pk. in the distance Route down from Cameron Pk. We could almost see our tent below from Cameron Pk., so we took a slightly different descent, straight down. We aimed at the ponds seen in the picture, which were below Blue Lake and a little bit above our campsite. We had to be careful not to get cliffed out in some areas and then we ended up bushwhacking a little bit in the trees. We finally got to the ponds and then walked over our campsite. We decided to spend the one more night there. It was probably around 8pm while having our supper sitting on a log when we spotted a mama moose and her little one. We took pictures of them zooming in and out. Peacefully eating those yummy willows... Yummy willows But our surprise was when they wanted to go by our tent and eat some other willows on the other side. Oops, we were in the way, so we thought we would give them as much room as they wanted. We fled our sitting spot in a hurry and watched them from another 50 yards away. They seemed to be focused on their eating goodies, not ours. Wait, do we have to leave now? And the little moose was so curious that he turned back and watched us closely, he did a flip or two and started to run in circles, what a show off! Mommy moose didn't seem to care, they finally ate what they wanted and moved on again. What a show for the night! Baby moose Gpx tracks below. My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload): Login required to view this map... Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Rawah Wilderness: Clark Pk & Cameron Pk.

Day 1: Backpack to below Blue Lake (4 miles approx.)
Trail: Blue Lake Trailhead (Rawah Wilderness)

Day 2: Summit of two nearby peaks:
Clark Pk (Northeast ridge)
Cameron Pk. (West ridge)

Distance: 8 miles from and to camp (for both peaks)
Elevation gain: 3,935
Time: 7 hours
Elevation at camp: 10,500

Tired of I-70 and 285 and their traffic jams, this time we decided to go North, yes, the Rawah Wilderness! So many years in Colorado and still hadn't visited this area. Now we are hooked to it!

I haven't seen any trip reports describing these two peaks in one day, so I thought I would add our trip report and routes taken, along with some pictures. And a moose story below.

The Blue Lake and Hang Lake areas are closed to camping, so we just hiked the first 4 miles and camped there, about half a mile below Blue Lake.

Notice the smoke from the wildfires

Once on the pass, we picked up a faint trail and followed it through some willows and up to the grassy slope. Our approximate route to the ridge in red in the picture.

We stayed on the left side of the ridge here

Went to the right side of the ridge on the next bump. Clark Pk. seems far away...

These creatures know how to camouflage well...

You can see the smoke line here looking west.

This is a funny picture I took zooming down on the patch of willows above Hang Lake. At that time I thought I had seen a moose down there, but it turned out to be a stump, oh well, too lazy to delete the picture. Then later when transferring the pictures to the computer there was a surprise on the upper part of the pic! Two bull moose laying on the creek... later we would see the rest of the family...

Hang Lake and Blue Lake down there. Also Cameron Pk.

Timber Lake and Island Lake in the distance

Our next goal: Cameron Pk. You can see the trail at the bottom of the pass going up. We followed a faint trail all the way to the saddle and then hiked the remaining ridge.

Saddle between point 12,054 and Cameron Pk

We could almost see our tent below from Cameron Pk., so we took a slightly different descent, straight down. We aimed at the ponds seen in the picture, which were below Blue Lake and a little bit above our campsite. We had to be careful not to get cliffed out in some areas and then we ended up bushwhacking a little bit in the trees. We finally got to the ponds and then walked over our campsite.

We decided to spend the one more night there. It was probably around 8pm while having our supper sitting on a log when we spotted a mama moose and her little one. We took pictures of them zooming in and out. Peacefully eating those yummy willows...

But our surprise was when they wanted to go by our tent and eat some other willows on the other side. Oops, we were in the way, so we thought we would give them as much room as they wanted. We fled our sitting spot in a hurry and watched them from another 50 yards away. They seemed to be focused on their eating goodies, not ours.

And the little moose was so curious that he turned back and watched us closely, he did a flip or two and started to run in circles, what a show off! Mommy moose didn't seem to care, they finally ate what they wanted and moved on again. What a show for the night!

Gpx tracks below.

My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

MtnHub	Great report! 9/9/2015 12:40pm Yeah, I was really impressed with the area around there too when I did Nokhu Crags a month ago. Just driving along Hwy 14 was so beautiful! I used to always come face to face with a moose or two in the Tetons, but have never seen one in CO. Must have been fun watching the little guy perform! Thanks for sharing your trip! :D
Jay521	Nice... 9/10/2015 7:50am I think I was able to see Clark from South Diamond last fall – which is the only time I have been up in that area of CO. Your report makes me want to go back up there and spend some more time. Thanks for posting this. Cool moose... They can be a little scary up close, tho...

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