Cotton Lake

Christy Mahon on the ridge high above Cotton Lake — On the ridge between 13ers above Cotton Lake.

In an attempt to isolate ourselves from the busy Fourth of July crowds all over Colorado, we picked a backpacking destination for the holiday weekend that was well off the beaten path— Cotton Lake.

Located on the west side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, two valleys north of Rito Alto Lake (which we recently visited), Cotton Lake had everything we were looking for. It’s a reasonable backpack approach (9 miles) with lots of wildflowers, several nearby 13ers, a high alpine lake, and very few people.

The wood lily. — The Wood Lily is pretty rare, and in some guidebooks they report it to actually be endangered. It was for that reason that I didn’t collect a bunch to make a bouquet for Christy.

The Cotton Lake trailhead is easy to locate, not far from the small town of Villa Grove. The trail is good, although as I’ve mentioned, it’s a quiet place so it also doesn’t see much work from trail crews. There were a lot of downed trees to navigate while wearing the big backpacks.

King's Crown at Cotton Lake. — The wildflowers are popping.

Camping at Cotton Lake — Setting up alongside the lake for dinner, as Christy tracks a Hermit Thrush in a nearby tree.

A curious beaver swimming in Cotton Lake. — A curious beaver that was keeping an eye on us up at Cotton Lake.

The lake is gorgeous. There was even a curious beaver that kept swimming nearby, as if to keep an eye on us at dusk one evening.

Ted Mahon above Cotton Lake — Gaining the ridge the following day.

Christy Mahon in the Sangres — Christy on the ridge, with Mount Owen behind.

Ted Mahon nearing Wild Cherry Peak — Almost to the 13,122 foot summit of Wild Cherry Peak.

Christy Mahon ridge walking in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains — It was your typical Sangre de Cristo topography.

Several years earlier we had run the trail to the lake and gained the ridge of peaks to the east. We summited Silver, Marcy, Gibbs, and De Anza peaks (read the post here). Now on this trip, we were able to climb up to a different ridge from camp to near Mount Owen, and then link up a whole different line of 13ers summits. And as we looked around later that afternoon we realized we’ve been on top of nearly every ranked 13er we could see.

Christy Mahon on PT13490 — At the summit cairn of PT 13490.

Continuing on the ridge, it was a little slabby in spots.

We finished by descending down to the diminutive Iris Lake, and then walking the Cotton Creek Trail over a pass back to camp, just as deluge of serious hail began to fall. There’s nothing like getting back to the tent just in time.