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Long time lurker, first time poster here. Been living in CO for 3+ years now and have gained much valuable information from this site so figure it's about time I pay it forward and share my own trip report. First time exploring Indian Peaks Wilderness and it did not disappoint. My buddy Dan and I devised a plan to bag Paiute Peak and Mount Audubon, and after researching some of the beta out there we elected to do the loop route clockwise as we read of the class 2-ish gully option from upper blue lake to get to Paiute, and it sounded like it would be more appealing to ascend that and descend back down the Mt. Audubon trail instead of vice versa. I included a GPX file of our route - my GPS didn't lock until about one mile in up at Mitchell Lake so there is about one mile of trail hiking missing at the front end.
We set out at 7:15AM at the Mitchell Lake TH. Parking permits are a must at this time of year, Mitchell Lake is a smaller lot where permits are more competitive than the larger Brainard lot, but the latter will require you to add a little under of a mile of additional hiking each way.
The trail up to Blue Lake was very scenic and well maintained, and we made good time up charging up to Blue Lake in about an hour. Along the way you pass Mitchell Lake and several other smaller lakes.
Steam along the trail up to Blue Lake
From Blue Lake, the trail traverses around the NE side of the lake and becomes slightly more faint as you make your way around the lake
Blue Lake in morning light, Mt. Toll to the left and Paiute Pk, our objective, to the right
Even thought it's early September, wildflower season has been good to us this year with all the moisture we had in spring and summer
Hiking through a wildflower bloom where the Blue Lake trail starts to fade.Wildflowers with Mt. Toll in the background
From Blue Lake we made our way up to 'Little Blue Lake' or the smaller higher elevation lake above the proper Blue Lake. At this point there was more or less no trail remaining and the routefinding and scrambling fun started. We generally trended NW from Blue Lake staying below a cliff band to the right of us until the slope angle eased where we could climb up it.
Dan scrambling on fun rock on the way up to Little Blue Lake.Dan at Little Blue Lake
Once we got to Little Blue Lake, we took a short breather for a snack, to enjoy the views and to scope out the class 2 gully route up Paiute Pk. I had also read in a previous trip report that there was some optional class 3 rock to the climbers right of the gully that could be used to ascend as well. I forgot to grab a photo of the gully but from Little Blue Lake it's fairly obvious as the path of least resistance up to Paiute. We identified the previously described class 3 rock option and decided that looked like a lot of fun and went for it - it was fun climbing on mostly stable rock, sustained class 2 with class 3 moves here and there. Stay just climber's right of the gully and you can avoid all of the loose terrain in the gully and scramble up mostly solid rock, just don't veer too far right as there were some cliff bands to avoid down to the Little Blue Lake basin. In the map photo below, you can see our route compared to the gully.
Route for the Paiute Pk climb - blue describes the class 2 gully which is loose scree, the green track was our route which climbed mostly stable rockA look at some of the terrain on the rock just to the right of the Paiute Pk gully routeFun scrambling!
The climb from Little Blue to the summit of Paiute took about an hour. As you gain elevation, the views of Mount Toll and the Blue Lakes basin do not disappoint.
Dan working his way up PaiuteFun scrambling with minimal exposure the whole way up. Excellent views of Mount Toll and the lakes basin the entire climbFinal climb up Paiute Pk with Little Blue and Blue in the background
Once we topped out at Paiute, we took a break to take in the views and scope out the ridge traverse ahead of us.
On the summit of Paiute Pk. We had a beautiful clear day and the views of the rest of IPW were amazingMt. Toll and Blue Lakes basin from the summit of Paiute PkDan at the summit of Paiute Pk
After the short break to recharge, we set off down the Paiute -> Audubon ridge. Routefinding was straightforward, for the most part just follow the ridge proper, there are occasional sections where exposure to the north side (i.e. left side when going from Paiute to Audubon) was easily avoided by skirting south slightly below the ridge crest. The 14ers.com route description does a great job at explaining this ridge.
Dan working his way down the ridge traverse. The route is fairly obvious.Working my way back up the Audubon side of the ridge.
The ridge scramble was thoroughly enjoyable, and we completed it in just over an hour. We moved at a steady but comfortable pace. Once at the summit of Audubon, we gathered ourselves once again and took some time to take in the high alpine views. Notably, from the summit of Audubon the views of Rocky Mountain National Park to the N were pretty incredible. We were lucky enough to have both summits to ourselves on this day.
Longs and Meeker as seen from Mt. Audubon summit
After enjoying the summit of Audubon for a bit, we set off down the talus field working towards the Mt. Audubon trail. Once you pick up the trail it's a rocky affair back to the car but we were able to shut off our brains and make decent time to make it back home to our families before dinner. Audubon summit back to car took about 1.5 hours.
Overall an incredible day in the alpine in our beautiful state. I'll be back to the IPW for more exploring - on the way down Dan and I were discussing how Audubon's E slopes would be a fun ski objective, in the last couple of years the two of us have been building our confidence in the backcountry in the winter.
GPS Track(s) on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):
We did the scramble between these peaks yesterday, we kept waiting for a class 3 section, hard as we tried it just wasn't there. Yes, there was some exposure but solid rock made it not a big deal. Now the descent from Paiute, to the valley floor,what a piece of junk. I did a few what I would say were class 3 moves on a section of stable rock which was rare,both hands needed. Some suggested not descending from Paiute but reversing direction, smart recommendation. What can I say, we weren't smart. Beautiful views. Thanks for the post.
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