Heart Lake, the Iceberg Lakes and Clayton Lake can be linked to form a challenging 10.8-mile loop through the James Peak Wilderness. This stunning route includes 5 lakes and covers several trail-less miles of high alpine terrain along the Continental Divide and lightly visited Iceberg Lakes - Clayton Lake valley.

Rogers Peak Lake (11,105') is the first of many highlights on the loop, with perhaps the best fishing of the five lakes

Heart Lake's eponymous shape comes into view on the .5 mile, 550' climb from Heart Lake to Rogers Pass

The route turns north on the Continental Divide Trail with great views south of James Peak and west over the Fraser Valley

Rogers Peak Lake is the headwater of South Boulder Creek, which flows east into Gross Reservoir just outside Boulder

At ~5.9 miles you'll reach the Iceberg Lakes Overlook (12,115'), where you'll leave the CDT and look for the best route down

Watch for falling rocks on the steep descent to South Iceberg Lake; this route drops 280' in just .15 miles - the equivalent rate of 1850' per mile!

The Iceberg Lakes are aptly named for their near-perennial snow and ice cover; keep a safe distance from unstable shelves along the shores of these deep lakes

View down valley from the high knoll between the north and south Iceberg Lakes; sight navigation is fairly easy from this point, but finding the best terrain is not

The Iceberg Lakes are each set in a shallow bowl and separated by a high, thin ridge which you must scale to get from one to the other

North Iceberg Lake is larger and more accommodating with level grass and south-facing outcrops

The short distance from North Iceberg Lake to open terrain on the north valley wall is arguably the most tedious and time consuming section of the loop, particularly lengthy sections of dense willow

A cirque is defined as a bowl-shaped depression with steep sides that forms at the head of a valley or glacier

Upon designation as a Wilderness Area, trails in the Arapaho Lakes and Iceberg-Clayton Lakes valleys were placed in abeyance and no longer receive maintenance

A well-defined trail appears at Clayton Lake, which drops 900' in just .7 miles to rejoin the South Boulder Creek Trail

The NW side of Clayton Lake features flower-covered meadows with several good established campsites

Clayton Lake is approximately 1.3 miles and 725' down from North Iceberg Lake

The James Peak Wilderness was designated in 2002 and covers over 17,000 acres

A small tarn midway down the valley between the Iceberg Lakes and Clayton Lake

Valley glaciers creep downslope via gravity and shape the landscape by pushing large volumes of earth to its margins

Clayton Lake has some particularly nice campsites set among tree islands in large meadows along the north shore

This outcrop, a useful place to scout terrain and routing, is located about halfway down the south valley wall to South Iceberg Lake