Piaute Peak & Mt Audubon, July 16th, 2005

This hike took me to my first (and second) 13er in CO. The hike had a lot of improve, with our route being decided on the fly. When we set out, we didn't know if we'd try for one or both summits, and I gotta credit Wendy's hardcore scrambling desires for getting us to both peaks on a day I could have easily been persuaded to do just one or none. An afternoon thunderstorm made things dramatic too, but we waited it out. Here's the pictorial...

Trail stats:
distance: ~8 miles roundtrip
starting elevation: 10752'
summit elevation: Paiute Peak 13088', Audubon 13221'

Click here for more info on Mount Audubon and Paiute Peak.

We drove to the Brainard Lake area of the Indian Peaks, just south of Rocky Mountain Nat Park. Somewhere in the 75-90 minute drive range. Got one of the last parking spots when we arrived ~8:30. We began the hike up to Blue Lake (sounds pretty).


There were a few lakes on the way. Here we see Mt Audubon on the left with Mitchell Lake in front...


There were TONS of wildflowers (which don't show up well on my camera)...


Made it to Blue Lake, and there's still ice in the middle of July!

Mount Toll on the left was pretty spectacular. At first I thought that was Piaute, and we'd have to scramble up it.


It was about here that we decided to hike up Piaute, the peak 3/4th across to the right, and take the ridge back to Audubon...


Wendy maneuvers across the watery path, as we round Blue Lake...


There was a cool waterfall on the north end of the lake...


A look back at Blue Lake, before scrambling up hill...


After a scramble up rocks and thru bushes, we found another lake, and decided to round the snowfield, and scramble of the slope on the right to Piaute...


As we climbed higher on the slope, we could see a ridge behind Mt Toll...


Wendy pauses for a pic (and rest) about halfway up. It was slow going...


(left):Mt Audubon is the peak in view, which we'll hit on our way back.
(right): Me on a tall rock...


A look at the ridge between Piaute and Audubon. The small fuzzy speck on the ridge is a person...


Near the peak of Piaute, I can see the jagged ridge to the West, with a person standing on the rock in front...


Made it to the top of Piaute. Here's a view towards Audubon...


A zoomed in view of the ridge between Piaute and Audubon. Wendy is a white speck on the right side of this pic...


A view to the right of the ridge. The ice has drifted a lot since we passed Blue Lake (lake on the top) a few hours ago...


(left): Looking back up the ridge to Piaute, waiting for Wendy to descend...
(right): A snow patch right along the ridge (Piaute in the background). You don't want to slide down either side...


Looking down the edge of the ridge ~half way across. Amazingly, there are flowers growing here...

We started hearing thunder, and seeing some lightening in the distance, so we hiked down the south side of the ridge for awhile, and stopped under a rock while it rained gently for a brief time. We debated about scrambling down the side of Audobon, but we really were tired of scrambling, and wanted to take the trail from the top of Audubon. So we waited for the weather to calm down, and continued up the ridge.


A look back at Piaute, with some grey clouds nearby...

We made it to the top of Audubon, with grey skies to the north and west. Didn't take too many pics, cause it was all grey out. Then we saw a lightening flash in the distance, and hurried our way down the trail.


On the way down the trail, I saw an interesting looking cloud...

We saw a deer when we got back to the tree line. Didn't finish the hike til almost 5pm. Definitely a little late, considering afternoon T-storm threats. The Indean Peaks have a lot to offer, and I'll no doubt return sometime soon...


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