Mt. Audubon

Distance: 8 miles round trip
Elevation: 10,400 ft - 13,233 ft
Elevation Gain: 2,833 ft
Dogs: On leash only...Indian Peaks Wilderness
Date Hiked:  16 July 2009

Mt. Audubon (13,233 ft)

Mt. Audubon is a easy to moderate 13er in the Indian Peaks Wilderness whose rocky trail will make you wish you had taken out stock in Dr. Scholls. Still, on a summer day with no thunderstorms, you may just find yourself blissed out, drunk on Mt. Audubon's Alps-like views. For petal peepers, the Mt. Audubon trail holds many treats from the majestic Columbine to the delicate Alpine Forget-me-not. So I don't neglect mentioning our furry friends I will say that the Mt. Audubon trail seem particularly pleasing to the Pika, which scurried in great numbers among the rocks. Additionally, we saw many Marmot holes, protruding snouts, and even two cat-like specimens frolicking on a snow field. Such delights do bring the hordes, particularly on weekends, so it is best to save Mt. Audubon for a mid-week trek and don't forget to get an early start.

The initial part of the trail is in the trees

The first good view occurs at a switchback near treeline. This is Mitchell Lake.

The trailhead to Mt. Audubon is located in the Brainard Lake recreation area. A U.Ss Federal Parks pass gets you in. Parking at any of the Brainard Lake trail heads can be an adventure so start either early (for Mt. Audubon and Pawnee Pass) or late, for the any of the area's lakes.

Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa) begin to dominate the flora as the views grow expansive to the west.

In the tundra now. This is the trail junction with Beaver Creek Trail at 1.7 miles.

The first mile of the 4-mile route to the summit is in the trees. Twisted tree roots and voracious gnats can either plague or delight the hiker. The difference depends upon whether one is at the beginning of the hike when moods are euphoric or at the end of the hike when one's feet are aching.

View to the east. There were many more lakes in the Brainard Lake Recreation Area than I knew existed. You can see many of them from the trail.

View looking north into the heart of the Indian Peaks Wilderness

A sharp curve upwards affords a panoramic view of Mitchell Lake and marks a change in topography to more stunted trees. The views increase the higher one climbs. On the southern end of the mountain we were torn between views of forests and lakes to the east, knobby rock piles to the north, and Columbine clusters amongst the rocks to the west. At 1.7 miles is the trail junction with the Beaver Creek Trail. This spot is a perfectly good turn around point for folks who just want to stick their toe in the tundra but have no desire to get totally wet. From this point the trail gets much rockier as it transects the southern end of the mountain and climbs relentlessly but gradually upwards.

View of the summit from one of the switchbacks that head up the short ridge

Some tundra flowers and the summit in the distance

A short series of switchbacks brings one to a small saddle. From the saddle, the trail skirts the northern side of the mountain to a broad plateau at 3.5 miles. Past the turn off to the summit is an incredible view looking up at Paiute Peak (13,012 ft). The view of this jagged hunk of rock with its attendant snow-covered couloirs is precisely why I abuse my body and climb peaks. Filled with woe and such a view will make it seem insignificant. Feeling a little egotistical and such a view will cut you down to size. Either way, it is a great equalizer. The earth, the air, the sun. These are the elemental forces that have awed us since the beginning of human consciousness.

Did I forget to mention the trail is rocky?

The Longs/Meeker Massive. Longs Peak (center) is 14,259 ft and Mt. Meeker (right) is 13,865 ft.

The last 0.5 miles of Mt. Audubon is a chore. It is a very large, mixed scree/talus, and boulder pile. While there are cairns and some worn trails, neither connect in any coherent fashion. I found it easier to stash the camera, pack up my pole and just scramble hand over foot upwards. This area is not particularly dangerous but I frequently ran into shifting rock and caused a milliseconds of anxiety. The right-hand side of the pile is close to that precipitous drop-off overlooking Paiute Peak, so it is advisable to stay to the center or left. For anyone used to climbing 14ers, this last pitch will not be technically difficult. It is just annoying and slow. Coming down is even worse because one's center of gravity is much farther away from the slope.

Looking northwest from the junction with the talus pile into the eastern side of Rocky Mountain National Park.

The rock pile. It goes on for 0.5 miles. The hiker in this picture is standing up. Be prepared to scramble as well.

I was surprised by the summit of Mt. Audubon. It is long and flat but still very rocky. There must have been 9 or more rock shelters scattered along the edge, a testament to the perpetual Indian Peaks winds. We walked to southern edge for our lunch. From here one can see Paiute (13,012 ft), Pawnee (12,943 ft), and Shoshone Peaks (12, 967 ft). These are not smooth edifices, but ragged monsters with seemingly unscaleable sides.

Looking north from part way up the rock pile. That is Longs and Meeker in the distance. They look much smaller in this wide angle shot.

Looking east from someplace on the rock pile. That is a marmot in the rock cleft. Note the view of the hazy plains in the distance.

The best views to the north exist on the upwards slope of the rock pile itself. There one can marvel at the Long's Peak Massif. Meeker, Indian's Head, and Long's herself dominate the skyline, a forbidding hunk of stone. From this angle, it seems like it would be impossible to climb Long's. Many do of course. Mt. Audubon must seem like a mere bump from that summit.

Looking at Paiute Peak and its couloirs from the edge. This picture does not begin to do justice to the magnitude of the view. Paiute dominates and the overwhelming sense of vertigo I felt looking down that 2,000 ft drop made me feel incredibly alive. It was this view that reaffirmed to me while I climb mountains.

Strolling across the summit. It was actually flat here. The summit turned out to be much larger than I anticipated. We headed south for views of the Indian Peaks.

The trail up Mt. Audubon is not technically challenging, but it is a Class II, which means one will need to use one hands periodically. The rockiness of the trail is very similar to what I experienced on Quandary Peak, so in that sense it has the feel of a 14er. Everyone should climb Mt. Audubon. Whether it is a training hike or the culmination of a summer's efforts will depend upon the individual. Either way, prepare to ogle the scenery and don't forget the Ibuprofen, you'll need it!

View from the southern portion of the summit. You can see Pawnee, Navajao, and Shosoni Peaks. Now you can see why the area is called the Indian Peaks Wilderness.

Purple Fringe

You can not appreciate the true beauty of Purple Fringe (Phacelia sericea) unless you get very close to it and notice that instead of being one large flower, it is composed many small flowers. From the vast distance of a hiker's eye to the ground, all these flowers blend in into a giant bottle-scrubber like plant.


I have only seen this flower twice this year. Once was on the Mesa Trail near Boulder and the other was on the slopes of Mt. Audubon. Both locations were dry and rocky. Purple Fringe blooms from June to August.

Brookside-McCurdy Trail

Distance: 6 miles round trip
Elevation: 8,000 ft - 8,830 ft
Elevation Gain: 830 ft (net), 1,060 ft (cumulative)

The Ponderosa Pine Forest on the Brookside-McCurdy Trail. Ponderosa Pines (Pinus Ponderosa) have long 4-7" needles, dark red trunks, and full canopies. The tree in the right of this picture is a typical example.

The Brookside-McCurdy Trail (BMT) is a 36 mile (one-way) trail that transects the Lost Creek Wilderness. Looking for a doggie outing on a rainy 4th of July weekend, we did just 3 miles (one-way) on this trail to a pleasant outcrop overlooking the peaks on Guanella Pass. There are no killer views on this trail, but there is an amazingly open and living Ponderosa Forest, a beautiful grass-filled meadow, and a stand of old-growth Aspens that majestically tower upwards. I never new Aspens could grow so large.

The trail sign at the parking lot

The trailhead for the Brookside-McCurdy Trail is on County Road 64 near Baily Colorado. Once you get on Hwy 64 it is best to ignore the guide books and just drive until you see the rather large and prominent forest service sign pointing to a large parking area off to the left.

Flowers along the trail

There is no demarcations at the parking area to give you an idea of where you are except for a sign advertising the Lost Creek Wilderness. Don't be fooled by this sign. The wilderness boundary is more than 3 miles up the trail.

A view of the meadow. There were several hikers frolicing amoungst the flowers

We figured that this trail was so obscure, that we would have it to ourselves. This turned not to be the case. The parking lot was almost full when we arrived at 10 AM, so plan accordingly. It seemed to be a popular spot for families with small children.

Some of the old-growth Aspens

The trail itself is amazingly soft on the feet. Absent is the usual gauntlet of rocks that after 6 miles or so make one's feet ache. Instead, the trail was composed of packed earth and pine needles. We managed to walk along at 3.4 miles per hour almost effortlessly. I can envision coming back to run the trail. It seems ideal for that purpose. There are quite a few ups and downs however, so don't be surprised if you loose elevation. I calculated 115 ft one way in additional elevation gain out to 3 miles. Most of the dips are down, over, and up small streams.

The trail transitions into a Lodgepole Pine Forest. Lodgepole Pines (Pinus contorta) have very short 1-3" needles and tall, boughless trunks.

Normally, I hate walking in the trees, being the spoiled tundra-loving Coloradoan that I am, but this trail surprised me. Instead of the trees being dense and foreboding like those on Gold Hill, these trees were actually welcoming. There was a park-like feel to them that reminded me of my childhood camping in the Sierra Nevadas. The light filtering through a Ponderosa Forest and the smell of the sun-warmed pine needles will forever be Summer to me.

Elaine and Abby eat lunch while resting on a pile of rocks. You can see a peak in the distance.

Here are some milestones along our short route.... It is 1.9 miles to the junction with the Payne Creek Trail (8,495 ft), 2.11 miles to the old-growth Aspen forest (8,602 ft), 2.41 miles to the start of the Lodgepole Pine forest (8,712 ft), 2.62 miles to a defunct bridge, 2.82 miles to the turn off for our lunch spot, and 2.93 miles to the rocks where we ate (8,830 ft). Note that our lunch spot is not on the trail but is located off to the right. It should not be difficult to find but in case you have a GPS, it was located at 39° 23.638'N 105° 31.495'W.

The only view on the trail. I took this standing on a rock outcropping. There was no way to get a shot without that pesky tree in the middle.

I have no idea if the views improve farther up the trail or if there is a notable turn around point. Still, if you are looking for a pleasant and easy ramble in the woods, this trail may just fit the bill.

Alpine Springbeauty

I have been seeing Alpine Springbeauties (Claytonia megarhiza) all over the high country this season. Their succulent-looking leaves are distinctive and easy to spot. Where they have space, they fan out into a symmetrical rosette. Many, like these specimens from the summit of Mt. Audubon, can be found crammed into the nooks and crannies of rocks.

Prairie Coneflower

The Prairie Coneflower (Ratibida columnifera) is common on roadsides and other disturbed areas. It blooms from July to August. Native Americans used it as a remedy for snakebit and Poison-ivy.


These pictures were taken next to the small trail leading out from NCAR's fitness center to the trail on the side of the building.

Wild Geranium

Wild Geranium (Geranium caepitosum) blooms from May to August from the Foothills to the Montane Zone. It prefers dry areas and is common on the Mesa Trail. It looks very similiar to the White Geranium (Geranium richardsonii), which prefers moist shady areas. I saw whole gullies of White Geranium on the Brookside-McCurdy Trail.

Hoosier Pass, West (Crystal Lake)

Distance: 3.3 miles round trip
Elevation: 11,542ft-11,720ft
Elevation Gain: 180ft

View looking east from the West Hoosier Pass Trail

There is a nice and easy walk from the top of Hoosier Pass to a mine and a small lake with the unusual name of .... Crystal Lake. This is different from the Crystal Lakes on the other side of Mowhawk Lakes and is probably one of twenty such named lakes in Colorado. About five years ago, I had tried to hike this trail after work one day in Summit County but was turned around by a large bog full of mud and snow. That attempt was about 2 weeks earlier than in the season than this trip. The bog was still there this time but more passable. By mid-July, the route should be very clear.

The route starts out on a broad dirt road that seems to pass some camping or picnic sites

Looking back on the main intersection. Our route is to the back of the photographer

The trail starts right on Hoosier Pass and heads up a wide dirt road. Within a half-mile, the road splits with the route to Crystal Lake following the sharp fork to the right. By the time you reach this point most of the elevation gain has been reached and the rest of the hike is on relatively level ground. It still is above 11K feet, however, so some folks may find the altitude challenging.

The trail as it starts to wind around the bend

As the roads heads north and winds around the hill, views of Quandary Peak begin to dominate the scene. This is a fantastic place to view this unusual stepped mountain. The actual route to the summit of Quandary is on south side of mountain and this route is in complete view from the West Hoosier Pass Trail.

Quandary Peak (14,265ft)

Crystal lake and its mine sit on a nice shelf at the base of a tall ridge. There is plenty of space around the lake to sit and since we were the only ones there one could even risk serious sun burn by going au naturale.

Some flag trees near Crystal Lake indicating the direction of the cold winter winds

What seemed very interesting is an unmapped trail up the ridge to the south. This was a short trail that seemed to provide access to the entire ridge line. Since it was already 4pm, on rare non-rainy day, we decided leaving exploring that route to another day.

Crystal Lake on West Hoosier Pass. The mining ruins are just to the right.

I rather like this short trail. If you are not in the mood for exercise or only have a couple of hours, this is a great option. Be advised that most of the route has views of Highway 9 and homes, so it is not a pristine wilderness experience. The destination, however, does feel very isolated. The road noise is gone and the sounds of water pouring down rocks and into the lake is very soothing. On this trip the wildflowers were just starting to appear. They will undoubtedly be better later in the season. We combined this hike with another short hike to the other Crystal Lakes. Hiking two or three short hikes in sequence is a great way to experience some of these easy destinations and still feel like you deserve that apres hike burger and beer.

Blue Flax

Blue Flax on the Road to Lost Lake. (Updated photo from 2010)

Blue Flax (Linum perenne lewisii) is a common Front Range wildflower. I usually see it later in the summer when things are really dry. It blooms from May to August all the way from the plains to the Subalpine zone.

Close up of Blue Flax from the Mesa Trail in Boulder. This specimen is more muted in color than the one above.

Crystal Lake, Lower (the one near Mowhawk Lakes)

Distance: 4 miles round trip from Spruce Creek Trailhead
Elevation: 10,400ft - 11,980ft
Elevation Gain: 1,580 ft

Lower Crystal Lake as it first comes into view

The trail to lower Crystal Lake can be an exercise in drudgery, but if you have a sturdy, high-clearance, true 4WD vehicle, there are several ways to cheat. Your degree of naughtiness depends entirely upon how far up Crystal Creek Road you decide to go.

Breaking out of treeline

On this trip, we ended up driving 0.85 miles up to a small two-car sized parking area on the left. This area is a small shelf overlooking Crystal Creek. It was very obvious. We stopped here because some hikers passing by told us that cars were not allowed beyond the turn off to Francie's Cabin, another 200 yards up the road. This turned out not to be true. You can drive all the way to the Lower Crystal Lake, which is totally whimping out unless you plan to use it as a trailhead for the Upper Crystal Lake. Be advised that Crystal Creek Road is very steep, rocky, and narrow. There were a couple of shear drop offs that had us giggling with "we're all going to die" tension breakers. If your tire hits a large rock and slides, it may not stop and those drop offs all invariably had large rocks near them.

Crystal Peak on the left. Note the water pouring down the road.

Crystal Creek Road heads off to the right 0.20 miles from the center of the Spruce Creek-Mowhawk Lakes trailhead. If space is available, you can park right across from this road. We did not think of it as a trail at the time b/c two trucks went up it right before we did. It is the trail however. Most of this lower portion of the trail has enough space to allow hikers to get out of the way of vehicles but there are some spots where there is not. Fortunately, only the hardy drive up that road, so traffic is light. The first mile of this road is in the trees, very steep, and mundane despite the pleasant views of the creek. Unless you like that sort of thing, beg, borrow, or steal a 4WD and cheat.

After our soggy water crossing, wringing out our socks was required.

Since there are so many ways to get to Lower Crystal Lake via Crystal Creek Road, I am going to summarize them in a table. The elevation of the lower lake is at 11,980 ft:

Starting Point	Starting Elevation	Elevation Gain	Distance to Lake
Spruce Trailhead	10,400 ft	1,580 ft	2.18 miles
Our parking spot	11,182 ft	790 ft	1.33 miles
Lower Lake	11,980 ft	246 ft to mine 870 ft to upper lake	0.48 miles 1.9 miles to upper lake

Obviously, one can extrapolate between our parking spot and the lower lake. It is possible to park at many locations between them. It is not advisable to park before our parking spot. The one advantage of just driving all the way to the lower lake is to avoid having to cross Crystal Creek itself the wet and soggy way.

Looking back down the valley towards Mt. Argentine.

There was a lot of water on the upper portion of the trail. Snowmelt was pouring down the road for about a quarter of a mile. This was not too bad because we could walk on the raised center portion of the road and only occasionally had to step into the water itself. The road crosses Crystal Creek, however, close to the lake and it was raging. Water completely covered the road for about 20 yards. There was no way around it, we had to just trudge through it and wring out our socks on the other side. The first trip across was not too bad and my socks seemed to dry very quickly. The second trip was worse because the water was deeper by the afternoon. It would be best to bring water shoes to change into if you do this hike in June or early July.

The mining road

Lower Crystal lake is a small, shallow lake, but it sits surrounded on three sides by high mountain walls. We could see the switchback trail to the upper lake, but there were at least four snowfields blocking the route. We did observe two hikers and their dogs make it past the first snowfield but turned around at the second. We found the area so appealing that coming back later in the season to do the upper lake is definately in the queue.

Crystal Lake from the shoulder of the mining road. The route to the upper lake zigzags up this face and then traverses from right to left near the top of the face.

Since we could not hike to the upper lake, we decided to head up an old mining road to the left of the lower lake. This goes up another 250 ft or so. There is a nice meadow half way up with a large snow bank that our dogs loved to race up and down. The road does continue in a dramatic turn to the left and we followed this route as well. This part of the road traverses what appears to be an ancient glacial moraine (large rock pile). It had great views of the valley we had ascended to get there. The best views of Lower Crystal Lake itself were found on the lower portion of the mining road.

Except for the first mile up Crystal Creek Rd (if you choose to park at the bottom), most of the trail is above treeline. The tundra wildflowers were popping out all over the place, particularly Alpine Forget-me-nots.

Standing near the apex of the mining road. The two large peaks in the distance are Grays and Torreys.

I really like the Crystal Lake basin. It was uncrowded and scenic. Since our hike was so short, however, we felt we needed to do more and so headed off to Hoosier Pass for a nice ridge walk, which will be the topic of another post.

Sego Lily

June was second wetest June on record for the Front Range. This has resulted in a bummer crop of wildflowers, chest high grasses, and bugs. This week I went for a stroll on the Mesa Trail and took pictures of over 20 species of wildlfowers. There are some species I have never seen bloom in this area. One of these is the Sego or Mariposa Lily (Calochortus gunnisonii).

The Sego Lily blooms from May through August and is usually in the Foothills and Montane zones in open meadows and fields.

In this picture you can see the individual stems.

The open field filled with Sego Lilies