I’ve never been responsible for naming any geographical features, but I’ll grant that it can sometimes be quite difficult. Two obvious issues come to mind. First, naming places after people. Times change, and attitudes change (thankfully). We’ve seen some prominent places renamed in recent years: Mount McKinley is now Mount Denali and Mount Evans is now Mount Blue Sky.

If we try to avoid naming things after people, we run into the issue of duplicates. I wondered earlier how many Columbine Lakes there might be in Colorado. The USGS database lists six. I don’t know how to find out which name has the most lakes. Crater Lake might be in the running, with 11 entries in the USGS database for Colorado. One entry in that list is for the Crater Lakes I visited in James Peak Wilderness, which is actually three lakes.

The Crater Lake in Indian Peaks Wilderness has been on my list of possible hikes for a year. On my hike to Columbine Lake, I met a couple of hikers who said it was one of the prettiest lakes they’d ever been to. That piqued my interest.

August 6, 2024

Crater Lake is reached from the Monarch Lake trailhead. Monarch Lake is nine and a half miles east of US 34 on County Road 6. It’s not asphalt, but the first seven or eight may as well be. There is a little bit of loose gravel, but the surface is almost like a paved road. There are campgrounds up here, and there’s a lot of RV traffic, so the road is quite well maintained. The final mile or so is good enough that I would consider driving the fun car next time.

The trailhead is a two-and-a-half-hour drive from home. I set my alarm for five and was able to put boots on the trail by 7:45. I still haven’t figured out how to use my pass for these non-Park hikes, and I didn’t see the kiosk on the way in, so I risked a fine. I left my Senior Pass on the dash and hoped that would mollify the powers that be.

After passing the three-quarter-mile-long Monarch Lake, the trail from the Wilderness boundary to the junction with Buchanan Pass is a rather run-of-the-mill forest hike. Long stretches are nearly level and free of rocks and roots, allowing for a quick pace. The trail junction with Buchanan Pass is not quite halfway to the destination, and I covered it in less than an hour and a half. It was starting to look like maybe I could reach the lake in less than four hours.

Now the trail heads up a valley that runs nearly three miles in a straight line to the southeast. The head of the canyon is deep in the heart of the Indian Peaks, surrounded by Cherokee, Iroquois, Apache, Shoshone, Hopi, and Navajo. None are 14ers, and only a couple are 13ers, but in combination, they’re an impressive group of peaks, all vertical lines and jagged profiles.

Most of the elevation gain of the hike is on this stretch. The effort of the climb is well rewarded with some nice cascades and waterfalls. There are a number of campsites at the lake, and the trail is well-traveled by backpackers. If I were to be carrying 35 or 40 pounds, I’d enjoy stopping for breaks at these falls. But I pushed on.

When I reached a series of switchbacks that climbed a fairly steep slope, I couldn’t help but think that if this trail was in the Eagles Nest Wilderness, they’d have just made it go straight up. At the top of these switchbacks is Mirror Lake, with an amazing view. I paused here for a few minutes to get some photos, then pushed on to Crater. A quick quarter mile later and you’re there.

Lone Eagle Peak dominates the view at both lakes.

I’ve been asked many times what my favorite lake is. I don’t really have one. I don’t have a Top 10, either. But if I did have a Top 10, I think I’d have to put Crater Lake on it.

Camping is allowed by permit, using designated spots. I saw signs with sites numbered as high as 11 but didn’t see signs for 11 sites. I think this would be an excellent place to spend a couple of nights. With two nights here, I’d consider a visit to Pawnee Lake a couple of miles away. And if I was adventurous, I’d take a stab at bushwhacking to Triangle Lake.

On the way back, I ran into a couple of guys who had lost the trail. I didn’t see them – they spotted me. There’s a place where the trail goes over solid rock for perhaps eighty yards. There are nice cairns at each end and one in the middle. They didn’t know to go from cairn to cairn and instead went into the bush.

Not long after that, two young men caught and passed me. They were traveling very light, t-shirts and shorts, and some water. Storm clouds were forming to the north, moving to the east. Perhaps it would miss us, but it didn’t look good. As they passed me, they asked if I thought we’d get rained on. “Probably”. They told me they had intended to get to the top of Pawnee Pass, but the weather prospects turned them around. They said maybe they’d started too late. I asked when they started. “12:30”. I told them I like to be off the top by noon.

A few minutes after they passed me, it started to sprinkle. Over the next few minutes, it increased a bit, and the skies were darkening. I stopped and put on my rain jacket. A minute later, there was one bright zap with its crash less than two seconds behind. That was close, less than half a mile! And that was it. It stopped raining. I have little doubt that by putting on my jacket I single-handedly stopped the rain. Ha!

There was more traffic on the trail than I expected, with a relatively high percentage being backpackers. I talked to people that had started their hike at Brainard Lake and I talked to folks who were headed there. That’s quite the climb with a heavy pack. Pawnee Pass tops out at about 12,500′.

I stopped at one of the nice falls for a break. I refilled my water and had my second peach. Yum!

When I was nearly back to Monarch Lake, I made a slight navigation error at a trail junction. I should have stayed to the right, but the sign said Monarch Lake trailhead was to the left, so I went that way. That took me the long way around Monarch Lake. I realized this pretty quickly and could have turned around, but I thought I might as well see a different view of the place. Unfortunately, the trail on the south shore doesn’t go along the shore: it’s up the slope a ways. You don’t get down to the water until you get to the western end of the lake. So it goes.

It’s a strenuous hike, but it has a nice payoff. It took me about four hours each way, and it’s a bit of a drive from Denver. Highly recommended.

Timetable

Segment	Distance	Elev Change	Time	Speed
Trailhead to Crater Lake Trail	1.6 mi	16’/mi	0:28	3.4 mph
Crater Lake Trail to Buchanan Pass Jct	1.7 mi	245’/mi	0:54	1.9 mph
Buchanan Pass Jct to Pawnee Pass Jct	3.0 mi	417’/mi	2:08	1.4 mph
Pawnee Pass Jct to Mirror Lake	0.7 mi	381’/mi	0:28	1.5 mph
Mirror Lake to Crater Lake	0.3 mi	100’/mi	0:13	1.2 mph
Trailhead to Crater Lake	7.3 mi	274’/mi	4:11	1.7 mph