Earlier in the summer, had done an Ida - Chief Cheley - Cracktop - Julian - Terra Tomah Traverse. I had looked down into the Gorge Lakes basin and thought that would be a cool place to explore. Gorge Lakes refers to eight magnificent lakes and three unnamed tarns nestled in the spendid alpine valley formed by the Cracktop-Mount Julian-Terra Tomah Mountain ridgeline and a rolling tundra ridge that extends northeast from Mount Ida. No established trails lead into the gorge, so the area is pristine. There are a few ways to access the lake: Mt. Ida, Forest Canyon Pass, or Trail Ridge Road at Rock Cut. Mt. Ida is probably the most pleasant.

I had a midday meeting I had to get back home for, so I left early and planned to just explore a couple of the lakes and leave the rest of the lakes for another day (or a weekend overnight). I hiked to the top of Mt. Ida, descended to the saddle between Ida and Chief Cheley, and from there descended to Azure Lake. Azure Lake is the fourth highest lake in RMNP. From Azure Lake, I scrambled up a rocky drainage to Highest Lake. Highest Lake is the highest of the Gorge Lakes and the second highest lake in RMNP (the highest lake in RMNP is Rowe Glacier Lake [click link for trip report]). After walking along the shore of Highest Lake and refilling my water bottle, I scrambled up the 3rd class East Ridge of Chief Cheley. From there I returned to Mt. Ida and then hiked out the trail.

(As a note, I think a better way to do this fun loop would be to cut off the Mt. Ida shortly before the summit on the approach and go over to tag Jagor Point, and from there descend to Azure Lake. This would add another summit to the loop and avoid going over Ida twice.)

The entire round trip was just under 6 hours car to car.

Map and photos below!