Trailhead: Cameron Pass
Miles: 7.7
Vertical Gain: 2,500′

Well, I guess it’s summer! Unable to rally friends to go skiing when it was 100 degrees in Fort Collins, I got my coworker Ben to join me for an excellent outing on Cameron Pass. We parked at the Cameron Pass trailhead, and after briefly admiring the still snowy face of Diamond Peak, we headed down the Michigan Ditch Road towards the American Lakes Trail. At the junction with the trail, we left the road and began bushwhacking straight up towards Iron Mountain. The bushwhack wasn’t particularly friendly, and had loads of snow, deadfall, and was very steep for the first 1,000′. Beyond that, the snow dissipated, and we had an easy time getting into the alpine.

Iron Mtn. – we hiked up the right-side scree field
1,000 ft. of scree

Our first major obstacle was the steep scree field to gain Iron Mountain. The scree was frustratingly loose, and steep enough to keep us on our toes. Eventually, we summitted without mishap, and began the delightful traverse back towards Cameron Pass in the alpine. The views were phenomenal, with the Nokhu Crags and Never Summers looking very majestic, but the wind was howling so we rarely took breaks to admire the surroundings. After gaining our last high point (about 12,000′), we began a long meandering ridge traverse towards the top of Hot Dog Bowl. We dropped down towards the ditch road and enjoyed a much calmer bushwhack down another 1,000′. Once at the road, we realized that the canal had swelled significantly due to snow melt on the hot day, and we decided to bushwhack the last mile on the east side to avoid a swim. This paid off, and we were back at the car in short order.

The Never Summer Range in all its glory
The ridge traverse from Iron Mtn.

We then drove to Gould and the Moose Visitor Center, and went car camping on the Laramie River. A big bull moose walked 25 ft. from us through our campsite, and we enjoyed a few beers and some Scotch around the fire. The area was full of mosquitos, but they weren’t completely miserable. The next morning, we hiked about 7 miles on the West Branch Trail before being stymied by a mean-looking river crossing, then jumped into a frigid Chambers Lake before driving down the Poudre back to town. It was a fabulous weekend!