by Blaine Howerton | NorthFortyNews.com
Father-son weekend adventure delivers trout, wildflowers, and memories before the school year begins
August 15, 2025 – When the heat cranked up last weekend, I decided it was time for one last hurrah before school started. My sons and I packed up the infamous Winnebago and headed up the Poudre Canyon, bound for a couple of nights at Chambers Lake Campground.
The lake itself was drained for maintenance, but this trip was more about the experience than the water. Chambers Lake Campground is a gem in the Roosevelt National Forest—spacious sites shaded by evergreens, complete with a picnic table, charcoal grill, and fire pit. At $30 a night, it was a beautiful and affordable basecamp. And thanks to gourmet meals from Passanante’s Home Food Service, we weren’t exactly “roughing it.”
Only five minutes away from camp was the Blue Lake trailhead. I had read that the 5.5-mile trek was “easy to moderate,” but we hadn’t hiked in a while. Still, with fishing gear, water bottles, and backpacks, we set off around 10 a.m., ready to see what the trail had in store.
The route began on an old logging road through the Cameron Peak Fire burn area. Like many burn scars, the wildflowers were spectacular—splashes of color spread across the blackened landscape. As we wound our way through both open areas and mature forest, the final miles became a real test. The incline challenged my knees, but just when I was thinking of calling it quits, we crested the trail, and the lake came into view.
Blue Lake was an oasis. A short descent brought us to the shoreline, and that’s when the magic happened. My youngest son hooked his first trout—then another, and another. My oldest reeled in a few as well. Bite after bite, the fish kept coming, and the next few hours were filled with laughter, excitement, and the rhythmic splash of lines hitting the water.
Eventually, it was time to pack up and tackle the long hike back. In my 40-plus years of hiking, I’ve found that the return trip often feels longer than the climb up, and this was no exception. But with persistence (and plenty of breaks), we made it back to camp—tired, happy, and full of stories to tell.
This trip was one for the memory book. Blue Lake will forever be etched in my mind as a place of beauty, challenge, and connection, and I can’t wait to go back someday.
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