Comanche Peak Wilderness overnighter

I recently found out about Outdoor Trail Maps and got a bunch of the wilderness areas in Colorado. I really like them, well priced, good size, and there’s nothing like pulling out a physical map when you are planning a trip. The Comanche Peak Wilderness is very close to where I live in Fort Collins so it has been on my list for a while. I had a failed attempt of going there on my bike a few weeks ago but it’s definitely doable in a day on a bike from Fort Collins if you are ready to eat some elevation.

The route I planned for this trip turned out to be perfect: Even better views that I could imagine, and a perfect mix of terrain and difficulty. I had planned this weekend with my friend Josh which is always fun. He mostly brings a great energy but sometimes whines a bit too much to my liking. He’s new in the game so I suppose it’s okay, hopefully it will change for the better with more experience…(I know he’s going to read this with a big smile).

Day 1 – Beaver Creek Trail & Brackenbury Cabin Trail (Strava link)

The trail goes along Beaver Creek and is a really nice trail and super beautiful. Most people either go to Comanche Lake or Browns Lake so after that the trail becomes a bit more rough. We saw a lot of bear, deer, and Elk poop but never saw the animals. There’s a gentle climb out of the woods where it connects with the Brackenbury Cabin Trail. It was a little tricky to follow the trail because of the snow but if we lost the trail we used MapOut to steer us back. When we crossed the pass an amazing view of the Never Summer Range opened up (see pics) and we found a perfect place to pitch our tents on the other side right around treeline. We cooked some couscous with tuna and broke out the whisky.

Day 2 – Camp spot to Comanche Peak to parking lot (Strava link)

We got out of the tents and made some coffee and Müsli and just took our time enjoying this awesome place. We started moving towards Comanche Peak with the hope of climbing it. We had picked the easiest route which you can walk up (class 1). The Mirror Lake Trail was pretty rough and very wet this time a year so we just had to accept getting wet feet which I don’t mind at all when I know they are going to dry out really fast in the weather we had. It was a really nice hike into the woods again and then the ascent towards the top. It turned out there was almost no snow on this side of the mountain so it was a relatively easy climb with amazing views. From the top you can see both Rocky Mountain National Park, The Never Summer range, and the Rawah Wilderness range (which I think technically is called the Medicine Bow Range, but it goes through the Rawah Wilderness and State Forest State Park). After we reached the top we came back down and hit the Hourglass Trail that follows the ridge down and hits Comanche Reservoir. Coming down Hourglass Trail we walked through a burnt area, it’s like walking through a cemetery. I thought it was really cool to see the yellow flowers were still able to grow there. It ended up being a quite long but very awesome day.