In the midst of Arizona’s hottest month, we escaped to Colorado for a weekend to explore some new places in the Rockies. Despite its extreme popularity in the area, we couldn’t resist the potential of some Colorado River Cutthroat and alpine lake views.
June is the worst month in the Sonoran Desert. Day time temps reach 115° and monsoon season is still a month away. We try to get out of the heat as much as possible in June, so we took the opportunity to visit Cory’s brother in Colorado. We rented a condo in Silverthorne and spent the weekend exploring the freshly thawed Colorado Rockies. After a little research, we found out that Mohawk Lakes near Breckenridge may hold some decent cutthroat, along with some gorgeous views.
It’s pretty common for trailheads in Colorado to have two different parking areas – one for 4×4 vehicles and one for cars – and Mohawk Lakes are no different. We were driving Tyler’s Honda Civic so we had to park at the Spruce Creek Trailhead which is 2 miles short of the actual Mohawk Lakes parking area. The Spruce Creek trail follows Spruce Creek through a dense fir forest up the valley towards Mohawk Lakes.
It was a pleasant hike in the cool morning air, although slightly boring with no real views of the surrounding peaks. About 1.5 miles from the car the trail went around an open meadow with a few small ponds and was the first opportunity to see where the heck we were actually going. As we walked by the meadow we saw a bull moose grazing out in the distance. It was an awesome moment for a couple desert dwellers!
Just past the upper parking area, the trail starts to switchback up a pretty steep hill. About half way up this hill there is an old cabin that was used in a mining operation a long time ago. We checked out the cabin and then walked over to creek where there was a nice waterfall.
We continued the grind up the steepest part of this trail, but the pops of wildflowers and open views made it completely worth it.
After 2.7 miles we arrived at Lower Mohawk lake. It was a pretty little lake sitting in a granite bowl, but it was fairly shallow and extremely crowded with day hikers. We snapped a few pictures but continued up the trail towards the largest Mohawk Lake.
Mohawk Lake was just a 1/2 mile and 250 ft elevation gain further. It is much bigger and in a deep bowl with a few less people hanging around. Fish vibes were strong.
We walked around the north side of the lake to a small grassy area where we strung up our rods and started fishing. The action wasn’t crazy fast, but there were enough 12-14″ Cutthroats milling around to keep us entertained, especially because they were rising to large terrestrial patterns.
We hung out on that side of the lake fishing, napping, eating and thoroughly enjoying the beautiful summer day.
As the sun started to dip lower, we walked around towards the outlet where we couldn’t resist a few last minute casts.
After it a few more fish, it started looking a little stormy, so we snapped a quick group photo (for the parents!) looking out over the entire valley. The Mohawk Lakes hike was a great day hike. It was challenging enough to test you physically, but had plenty of rewarding scenery and fish.
