Comanche Peak Wilderness Trails

Comanche Peak Wilderness Trails

Gentle tundra slopes of the Mummy Range, flanked by dense lodgepole pine forests, characterize much of the Comanche Peak Wilderness. The crest of the Mummy Range denotes the northern boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park; Comanche Peak Wilderness consists of those lands north of this ridge. The granite peaks of the Mummy Range were long ago scoured and smoothed into their present-day mounded shapes by Pleistocene-era glaciers. Despite this glacial history, only a handful of lakes dot the wilderness—in the Browns, Comanche, and Emmaline Lake basins. Two municipal reservoirs sit just outside the wilderness boundary—Comanche and hourglass—but the real water magic of the Comanche Peak Wilderness lies in the mesmerizing cascades of the Big South Fork of the Cache la Poudre on the western edge of the wilderness. Here, the Big South carves its way out of Rocky Mountain National Park through cool forests of Engelmann spruce and Douglas fir, dropping into hotter and drier lodgepole pine forests as the river nears the Poudre Canyon and CO 14. The Big South and the Poudre’s Little South Fork comprise the only officially protected wild and scenic river in all of Colorado. Comanche peak possesses one of colorado’s most tortuous wilderness boundaries. Its odd shape makes the wilderness interior easily accessible, with few areas more than 5 miles from a trailhead. Easy access means more people and less solitude at popular destination sites like browns lake. This trail guide includes descriptions of Big South, Emmaline Lake, Sheep Creek, Browns Lake, Comanche Lake, Comanche Peak, North Fork/Stormy Peaks Pass/Signal Mountain, Mummy Pass/Mirror Lake/Hourglass, and Flowers Trail.

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