Trip
Scramble – Brainard Lake Rec Area - Mitchell Lake TH - Paiute Peak and Mt Audubon
Mount Audubon Southeast Ridge to Paiute Peak: This hike is a nice tour of a section of Indian Peaks Wilderness with quite a bit of class 3 scrambling and one short 4th class down climb. We will hike up the southeast ridge of Audubon, traverse to Paiute and descend to Blue Lake and out to complete the loop. This is an elective scramble trip for the 2025 Northern Colorado Group ASC. Students from the course can pre-register until July 12. After that other CMC members may register. Please email the co-leader at lbark3@earthlink.net before registering.
Contacts
- Sat, Jul 26, 2025
- Northern Colorado
- Scrambling
- Adults
- Difficult
- Mileage: 8.0 mi
- Elevation Gain: 3,500 ft
- High Point Elevation: 13,217 ft
- 1 (5 capacity)
- 1 (3 capacity)
- Cancellation & Refund Policy
This loop in Indian Peaks Wilderness summits two 13ers with quite a bit of class 3 scrambling and a short 4th class down climb into a notch on the southeast ridge of Audubon. From either the Mitchell Lake trailhead or the Brainard Lake Picnic area, we’ll hike to Mitchell Lake on trail. From there we’ll ascend off-trail up to the southeast ridge with some good class 3 scrambling up to a notch in the ridge. That is the crux of the route. With good route finding, we can find a short 4th class down climb and continue on up the summit of Audubon. The ridge to Paiute has some easy class 3 and then we’ll descend steeply to Blue Lake and back on the trail to our cars.
Note: Students from the 2025 Northern Colorado Group ASC can pre-register until July 12. After that other CMC members may register. Please mail the co-leader at lbark3@earthlink.net before registering.
Carpool location in Fort Collins. Details emailed to participants a few days before the trip. Plan for an early start.
Required Equipment
In addition to the 10 essentials bring a harness, helmet, prusiks, and carabiners.