Subject: TR: Mount Audubon hike Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 11:27:18 -0700 From: xerxes2@ares.csd.net (Randall S. Smith) Organization: It's good to be the King! Newsgroups:rec.backcountry Trip report: hiking Mt. Audubon
Mt. Audubon is a 13,223 ft. mountain located near the continental divide about 20 miles west of Boulder, Colorado. The trailhead (elevation 10,480 ft.) is readily accessible from Brainard Lake, above the mountain town of Ward. The trail offers spectacular views into Rocky Mountain National Park to the north, Middle Park to the west, the Indian Peaks to the south, and the plains to the east. The hike is 8 miles round trip, with 2,743 ft elevation gain in 4 miles.
At 7:20 am, my friend Tom picked me up from my place in Gunbarrel and we headed up Lefthand Canyon to the small mountian town of Ward (elevation 9,160 ft). From Ward we crossed the Peak to Peak highway (Co. 72) to the Brainard Lake turnoff. We stopped briefly at the unmanned fee station to fill out an envelope and deposit our $5.00 parking fee. While stopped here, we discovered that Tom had forgotten to replace the oil fill cap on his engine the previous evening when he had topped off his oil. Fortunately, we had an extra litre of oil, which was used to top off the engine. As Boulder was much further away than the trailhead, we decided to forge onward and deal with the automotive problems after our hike.
We arrived at the parking lot for the Mitchell Creek trailhead above Brainard lake at about 8:30 am. The day was turning out beautifully, with hardly any clouds aside from some wispy stratocirrus strands. The temperature was distinctly chilly; I estimated that it was somewhat below freezing, probably about 30 degrees F. I had along my pack, equipped with 1 gallon water, some lunch, water purifier pump, gaiters, 7 1/2" quad map, trail emergency pack with a first aid kit, compass, matches, emergency blanket, sunscreen, and small repair kit, a small trowel, TP, gloves and sweat pants. Prehaps I tend to overpack, but my philosophy in the high country is to be prepared to spend the night outside. I've found that I have had a use for every item I carry, at any rate. I put on my quilted shirt and gortex jacket over a t-shirt, but this arrangement didn't last long as the day heated up.
There were only about 6 other cars in the parking lot. A fairly large group of high-school aged children were gathering in preparation to doing the same hike, so we got moving fairly quickly as we did not especially wish to have to pass them on the way up. The Mt. Audubon trail leaves the parking lot from the north edge, proceeding through a gently rising forest of bristlecone pines. The ground was covered with patches of snow, no more than 6" deep at most, from the previous weekend. The trail heads generally northwest through the forest for 1/2 mile, toward the base of the east ridge of Mt. Audobon.
We stopped briefly for pictures in a small alpine meadow which affords a nice view down the Blue Lake drainage to Mount Toll. I removed my jacket as the hiking was begining to get a bit warmer, and my quilted shirt was more than enough. The path turns east here and begins to gain elevation, climbing the east ridge in a series of long switchbacks. Through the trees to the south is visible the long, windswept brown back of Niwot ridge, running east from Navajo peak. Beyond this ridge, not visible from the trail, is the city of Boulder watershed and Arapaho glacier. This area is restricted from public access, as it is the area that provides the city of Boulder with its water. In fact, the city of Boulder is the only city in the continental US to own a glacier as a water source.
Climbing the east ridge of Mt. Audubon, the trail gradually wraps around to the north, passing through treeline at about 11,200 ft. Beyond this point, the trail continues entirely above treeline, across alpine tundra. At about 1 1/2 miles, the trail meets up with the Beaver Creek trail coming in from the Coney Flats Trailhead about 4 miles to the north. Beyond the Beaver Creek trail, our path climbs somewhat to a broad, gently sloping shoulder between the east and north ridges. We stopped for a rest and I changed again, from my quilted shirt to just my jacket, as the light wind was carrying a chill along with it. The view from this broad shoulder to the east is spectacular, laying out the ramparts of the front range as they rise from the great plains some 25 miles away and 6,140 ft below. 40 miles to the southeast it is possible to see the faint outlines of the Denver skyline, awash in a brown, hazy cloud. The problem of atmospheric inversion layers is especially evident from this vantage.
At 2 1/2 miles, the trail begins the steep climb up the north ridge of Mt. Adubon to a low saddle between the main peak to the west and a pair of smaller peaks to the north and northeast. The climb starts at 11,860 ft and reaches the edge of the saddle at 12,200 over a distance of less than 1/3 mile. Between the thin air and the cold wind, we found the going slow. By the time we had reached the lower edge of the saddle it was 10:45 am and we had come a little over 3 miles and 1,720 ft. It was time for a rest and recharge, as the last 9/10 of a mile and 1,023 ft. lay ahead. As we sat down for a snack, we could see the trail below us leading to the north ridge gradually filling with little specks - people who had started after us. We figured that by the time we reached the summit, it would be getting pretty crowded down below.
At about 11:00 am we started out on the final ascent. After the path clears the minor peaks to the north of the saddle, there is a magnificent view of the blocky crest of Long's peak, about 15 miles to the northwest, rising to 14,255 ft. Beyond are visible the snowy crags of the Never Summer Wilderness. From the crest of the saddle at 12,600 ft. the path turns almost due south and disappears in a jumbled rock slope leadin to the peak. Here there appears to be at least five different ways to scramble up the rocks, with numerous "paths" disappearing into small snowfields and reappearing elsewhere. Following rock cairns is next to impossible, as people have helpfully built them all over the slope. Luckily, the way to proceed is pretty obvious - UP.
After about an hour of cautiously scrambling over rocks, avoiding the numerous snowfields and their hidden "ankle-twisters" and generally heading toward blue sky, we reached the top, a broad, flat and rocky field prehaps 100x400 ft. To the west the mountian top drops precipitously down to Upper Coney Lake, some 2,283 ft below. Grand Lake is visible in the distance. To the south, a ridge drops down and then back up to the 13,088 ft. Paiute Peak. The other peaks of the Indian Peaks raise their craggy heads: Toll, Pawnee, Apache, Shoshoni, Little Pawnee. The spire of Decker's Pick stands out prominently between Pawnee and Little Pawnee peaks. Far off in the hazy distance we could see Pike's Peak, almost 95 miles away, towering above Colorado Springs.
As we sat on the summit, eating our lunch, the high cirrus clouds began to thicken and the sun starting playing hide and seek with them. Every time the sun's face darkened behind a cloud, the temperature of the gusty breeze seemed to drop 15 degrees. At 1:15 pm we decided it was time to head down. I took a couple of Tyleno to head off the start of an altidude-induced headache that I always seem to get when climbing above 11,000 ft. Quite a few people were milling around in the saddle below the peak or slowly filtering up to the top. As we started down, I paused to put on my gloves and gaiters in preparation for playing around in one of the small snowfields dotting the lower slope.
We reached the upper saddle in 1/2 hour of careful rock hopping. I believe that going down a rocky slope is much harder than going up, any day of the week. A number of people who had made it to the saddle had decided that they'd forgo the final scramble and had started down ahead of us. We waited about 15 minutes to give them some room, and then started down ourselves.
The descent took us much less time than going up. No real surprise here. We arrived back at the car at 3:15 pm, covering the 3 1/2 mile descent in about 1 1/2 hours, including a 15 minute breather at treeline. Even so, we didn't catch up with any of the groups ahead of us.
We returned to Boulder to find Tom a new oil fill cap comewhat sunburned and tired. I figure that our ascent of Mt. Audubon is probably one of the last I'll be able to make this season without encountering fairly thick snows. The trail was stenuous, but not too bad, and we got some absolutely spectacular views of the mountains and plains.
Randy
Dr. Randall S. Smith
Proligo, LLC
Boulder, CO
e-mail: xerxes2@ares.csd.net
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* Views stated herein are generally acknowledged to be aberrations of nature* e-mail: xerxes2@ares.csd.net