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Still acclimating to the area and want to get in a relatively quick climb/hike in the Indian Peaks area Saturday morning. I don't have a 4x4. I'm thinking a 5-10 mile RT so we can get up and back down before 12-1pm.

Any favorites for a quick trip?

Pawnee Peak (a 12er) up past Brainard Lake has amazing views, and not many people go past Pawnee Pass to the peak. Haven't done Mt Audubon (13er), but its' also in this area. $8 to get to the lake parking.

Arapaho Pass is a classic, as well as S Arapaho Peak (8-9mi). Amazing wild flowers! The dirt road up to 4th of July TH is passable in a passenger car.

Heart Lake (or the other 2 trails to lakes) in the James Peak wilderness are also nice. You can get to James Peak (13er) from the ridge. Good dirt road as well.

Mt. Audubon is a safe and easy warmup hike, with good views of the Indian Peaks as well as the Longs Peak massif to the north. Here's a link to my trip report for Mt. Audubon:

http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... m=tripmain

If you're up to it, scramble from Mt. Audubon's summit to Paiute Peak and return to the parking lot via the Blue Lake Trail. It's a hella good time, and Blue Lake is one of the nicer spots on the east side of the Indian Peaks.

Great recommendations...thanks! (liked the write-up too)

I was just trying to find it to no avail, but can anyone tell me if there are some primitve camp sites around the Brainard Lake area? I'm looking to car camp as I don't have time Friday to pack in anywhere. I spent my last hour at work looking for something! Maybe I can't read well enough. Any help? Thanks!

-Mike

MikeyC wrote:I was just trying to find it to no avail, but can anyone tell me if there are some primitve camp sites around the Brainard Lake area? I'm looking to car camp as I don't have time Friday to pack in anywhere. I spent my last hour at work looking for something! Maybe I can't read well enough. Any help? Thanks!

-Mike

The NF Pawnee Campground is at Brainard Lake:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf/recreation ... wnee.shtml

Thanks much!

The road to Mt. Audobon costs $8 to enter, and the guy at the gate told me the trailhead fills up by 7.30am on weekends. And apparently, when it gets to whatever their definition of full is they close the lot and you have to park a good bit lower.

South Arapaho OTOH is free and is a quicker drive up from Boulder. Just something to keep in mind.

TravelingMatt wrote:The road to Mt. Audobon costs $8 to enter, and the guy at the gate told me the trailhead fills up by 7.30am on weekends. And apparently, when it gets to whatever their definition of full is they close the lot and you have to park a good bit lower.

South Arapaho OTOH is free and is a quicker drive up from Boulder. Just something to keep in mind.

Duly noted...though I may have to settle for a training run up South Boulder early in the morning as the fiance says we have wedding planning stuff to take care of (which is true...) and lots to do around the house (which is also true). I'll still be happy as a clam to get outside and away from this infernal computer screen