Intro
Blue Lake is located roughly 3 miles from Mitchell Lake Trailhead in the Brainard Lake Recreation Area. It fills a large, rocky amphitheater framed by Pawnee Peak (12,943'), Mt Toll (12,979'), Paiute Peak (13,088') and Mt Audubon (13,223'). In the summer, Blue Lake is perhaps the most popular destination in the Indian Peak Wilderness. In the winter, the snow and the 5.6 miles (2.8 up, 2.8 down) of road-hiking between the winter parking lot and the summer trailhead make Blue Lake a quiet place and a great destination for a snowshoe outing.
I had first visited Blue Lake in July 2023 after a three peak solo loop scramble over Little Pawnee, Pawnee, and Toll. I made a note to return to Blue Lake in the winter, and walk over its frozen surface surrounded by snow-encased summits of the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Over Thanksgiving weekend 2023, I snatched a bluebird Sunday to do a solo snowshoe up to Blue Lake.
My round trip time from the winter parking lot to Blue Lake was 5 hours and 30 minutes, which includes a 10 minute hot chocolate break at Blue Lake. I was the first person up the trail since a snowstorm the previous day, so I had the pleasure of breaking trail through deep powder. I had the lake to myself and the weather was glorious.
Below is a sampling of photos from my day out. What a great snowshoe objective!
