Wolverine Basin 2015

Wolverine Basin Route

Jeff Schimpff

Many people are called back to places that have become integral to their identity. The lakes of the Wolverine Basin in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness of the Routt National Forest in Colorado are such a place for me. This lovely basin quickly became my favorite destination when I worked a summer Recreation Aid job at the Seedhouse Guard Station in 1970.  The trails to this basin and the Dome Lake Basin immediately to the west have been abandoned by the Rout National Forest recreation managers for some time. The South Fork of the Elk River watershed here has been beset by tree-toppling wind blasts, spruce-killing insect infestation, and trunk-charring fire, so getting there has become far more of a challenge than it was in the early 1970s.

Theresa and Noque at North Lake trailhead, 2013. The North Lake Trail leads onward to the continental Divide Trail and Lost Ranger Peak.

Reportedly, too many horse camps were going up there and creating long-lasting over-use impacts. I didn't get the details on what exactly was going on, but generally these impacts include denuding areas along the lake shores, over-grazing, compacting soil, and posing a risk of introducing invasive species. In addition, Dome Lake one drainage to the west  held a population of native cutthroat trout, which were (and are) becoming increasingly rare due to a number of factors. That trail was also abandoned, but we and our sons, who were 7 and 9 at the time, made our way up there on a grand bushwhacking trip in 1997.

Ptarmigan (left) and Wolverine (right) lakes from Lost Ranger - 2013. Hahn's Peak is in the center back near the horizon. 

 Even though the Wolverine Basin trail is now unmaintained, with a little determination and some bushwhacking it is possible to get up there.  My wife, dog and I camped at North Lake, then in the morning hiked up the Wyoming Trail to the summit of Lost Ranger peak immediately to the east, and peered down into the Wolverine Lakes in July 2013 (above photo), after visiting our sons at Keystone, CO.

It looked from up on Lost Ranger that it is also possible to make a rocky route down from Lost Ranger into the Wolverine Basin.  It is longer, but appears it would be easier and might take slightly less time and involve far less travel over and around deadfalls.

The previous day on that trip, I took a late afternoon hike across a small meadow about a half mile below North Lake, and followed a line of sporadic, small rock cairns that intersected an old, abandoned trail. The way was partially obstructed by a large number of fallen trees.  I did not have time to reach that lake on that side trip, but became determined to get there as soon as I could return to the upper Elk River.

Then in August 2015 I was able to get back to the upper Elk River and make the journey. The trailhead I took is about 33-35 miles north of Steamboat Springs, CO.

The Dome - August 2015

I back-packed up there with our wayfaring yellow lab Noque for a visit.  The route follows most of the length of the North Lake Trail. After about two and half miles from the trailhead, hikers are treated to glimpses of Dome Peak, often screened through the stark burned stems of Engleman spruce.

About one half mile below North Lake, there is a faint trail that departs south across a four-acre meadow, then pitches into a deep creek drainage that is haphazardly marked with small rock cairns.

The route is littered with a lot of deadfall trees but all can be either skirted or clambered over. The route proved to be very tiring for Noque and it was hard for him to find the best way around some of the obstructions.

Mt Zirkel (L) from a lumpy campsite above Ptarmigan Lake, 2015

Burned, beetle-killed spruce at sunset, Ptarmigan Lake, NW end outlet, 2015

I missed any sign of a trail or route to Wolverine Lake, the lowest of the three basin lakes. Instead, I came up to the top of a ridge just above Ptarmigan Lake. As we were making our way through a mess of deadfalls, I caught movement to my right, and was able to see two mule deer bucks, and then two does nearby, bounding up and away from us.


Once we reached the lakeshore it was obvious that all the areas that would have been good for setting up a tent were unsettlingly within easy reach of any naked tree that decided it had held on to the soil with its dead roots for long enough.  We hiked up a couple hundred yards above the southwest end of the lake and I set up my cozy tent on a lumpy, slanted sod-covered shelf amid a cluster of krumholz spruce, stunted by exposure to wind and cold.

In the evening, after an uncooked dinner of energy bars, nuts and cookies, we journeyed back to the lake. The southern shore is very soggy mix of wetland hummocks crossed by a couple small creeks. I was disappointed to see no sign of trout rising to whatever aquatic insects may be rising at the surface.

Back at camp in the chill thin air, the stars shone brightly as I tucked Noque in under vestibule designed for keeping gear out of the rain and covered him in his "buffalo robe," a remnant of fleece cloth dyed with simple hello and brown scenes of bison.

Pristine Lake, August 2015

In the morning Noque enjoyed his breakfast, but probably did not think that his last two meals also meant that his doggie pack would be a little lighter on the trek back down.

We climbed up a moderately steep chute to the south, and from the summit of the ridge at the top I gazed at the serenity of Pristine Lake.  In 1973 I had hiked up there to take a break from my archery elk hunt, and caught small brook trout until the only fly I had, a black ant, became so frayed that the bare hook was showing.

I stepped back down a hundred or more vertical feet to the shore, and saw that the descendants of the socked, non-native brook trout I had caught 42 hears earlier were still maintaining a very vibrant population. The lake was not the vivid clear, deep blue I remembered from my last visit decades ago, having instead a somewhat green, almost slightly eutrophic appearance.

In an hour and a half I caught a dozen trout, none larger than 8 1/2 inches. I had at least half a dozen solid strikes on my casting bubble as well. I kept three fish, cleaned them, put them in wet grass in a partially open zip-lock bag, and bid a fond farewell to Pristine Lake.

On the way down I tried to get over to the left of Ptarmigan Lake an make my way to Wolverine Lake. to se if it has any safe campsites. The pattern of deadfalls kept herding us to the right instead. I was now feeling a need to get on a schedule that would get me back to Wisconsin in two days, to keep a date with Theresa and some neighbors, to meet for a picnic and play at American Players Theater in Spring Green, WI. So, I denied my desire to make the extra effort to get over to Wolverine Lake. [I did make it to the play rendezvous in plenty of time, despite running out of gasoline two miles from the nearest gas station in Fort Dodge, western Iowa in mid-morning of my arrival day.  I was fortunate to have my mountain bike racked on the car bumper!]

Wolverine Basin is a place that pulls on my spirit often, as I recall past visits for fishing, searching for elk, and following game trails to see where they lead. No matter how you get there, it is well worth the trip. I hope to get to Wolverine Lake on another visit soon,

Brook trout rise on Pristine Lake, August, 2015