One of many
trip reports under the
SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie
Grow.
Email me at
ajs@frii.com.
Last update: April 1, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1987_0717-20_ChallengerPoint.htm)
I went out alone for exercise and peak bagging on Paiute Peak and Mount Audubon in the Indian Peaks Wilderness northwest of Boulder, Colorado, and succeeded. But thanks to iffy weather it wasn't a very relaxing day. (Such is the risk of peak bagging instead of trail wandering.) Having climbed Audubon three times previously in the normal way (at least going up), I wanted to do something a little different.
I left Fort Collins at 0530 to find a front-and-center parking spot at the Mitchell Lake trailhead at Brainard Lake, 10400', at 0701. I was amazed at how fast I got there via Lyons, early in the morning, and how empty the parking lot was. Just before I headed up the trail at 0717 the trailhead hosts arrived. They said 260 vehicles had tried to park in the (small) lot the day before!
The trail to Mitchell Lake and Blue Lake was quite wide, pleasant, and well-worn. It went up and down just a little, a wonderful family trail -- if you could find a place to park!
I cruised up to the east end of Blue Lake, well above timberline, in just an hour, gaining 1000' over about two miles. I didn't see anyone along the way, just lots of wildlife, even some deer. The cool morning, gentle breezes, and crisp blue sky were very enjoyable.
Mount Toll and Paiute Peak towered to the west over Blue Lake above a narrow waterfall. Mount Audubon rose broadly to the north. The trail meandered around the marshy north side of the lake and petered out.
I started scrambling on solid granite boulders and outcroppings above the lake, a fun and easy challenge. In a while I reached an upper bowl that was still snow-filled. Even at 0900 it was already soft enough that I didn't need the ice axe I carried, for no reason as it turned out (except exercise I guess).
Edging up the snow brought me to a steep rock wall with lots of dihedral cuts... Good scrambling. I stayed left to reach the Toll-Paiute ridge on the continental divide at 12400', just below the awesome, rounded, pinnacled north face of Mount Toll.
From here I traversed up and down below the ridge on the east side to the low point, then up the relatively gentle remainder of the way to Paiute Peak at 1035. Almost no hands were required although it was steep and complex.
The summit was fairly large and flat with three high points. Two of them were a hundred feet apart, and it was hard to say which was higher. It took me 3:18 to climb only 2800' or so, largely because of the gentle approach to Blue Lake I guess. [2024: Now rereading this at age 68, I can't believe how fast I was back then, even though I felt slow!]
At this point I still had the mountain to myself, though I could make out some people on Audubon almost a mile east. Paiute had quite a panorama -- Longs Peak 11 miles north with all its surrounding summits, Audubon east across a long, rounded ridge, Blue and the other lakes to the southeast, all the Indian Peaks to the south, and Lake Granby shimmering out in the west. Most surprising, the summit of Paiute was absolutely virgin -- not a survey marker, not a register, not a cairn to be seen.
Unfortunately a thick but localized line of cumulus formed a couple miles to the east. I was a bit concerned about thunderstorms building up early in the afternoon, so I only stayed a half hour before dropping east down the easy, solid ridge towards Audubon. Here I met about four other parties coming the other way. In either direction, adding the other peak was much extra work!
I crossed from Paiute to Audubon around 1105-1211, gaining about 625' over what I'd already ascended. The ridge was lots of fun, very wide and solid. I moved pretty fast because I could see cumulus clouds beyond the summit. Once on Mount Audubon, with a number of other people around, I decided to kick back and take my time. I could get off this mountain quickly if bad weather arose, but it never did.
One of the summitfolk had bicycled from Rhode Island over the last 18 days, and had been in Colorado only three days! It was his first climb in the state. He had a little headache despite his good condition. Still he looked thoughtfully at Longs Peak...
At 1322 I started down the bouldery southeast slope of Audubon. Before long I found the first cut into a huge bowl on the south side of the mountain where I had descended before. Last time though there was a lot of glissade snow in the bowl! Not in August. It was a mixture of big loose rocks, some firm dirt and scree, and occasional, enjoyable loose gravel.
After a tiring slog-and-drop down and out, I made the north side of the little lake east of Mitchell and encountered people fishing. I circled the lake to discover I had a long walk the other way, or a short, delicious barefoot fording of the creek... Ah... Boots back on, I reached the trailhead at 1534, only 2:12 from the top of Audubon.
(Next trip report: 1987_0808_Grays,Torreys.htm)