IMG_0984[1] IMG_0996[1]While almost everyone has heard of Rocky Mountain National Park, which is about an hour north of where we live, most people outside this area have never heard of Brainard Lake Recreation Area.  But in my experience, Brainard Lake is every bit as breathtaking as the park.  Brainard Lake is part of the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, and the truth is that when Enos Mills and others were putting together a proposal to create Rocky Mountain National Park, they wanted to include all of the Indian Peaks within the park boundaries.  However, there was too much local opposition, and so it wasn’t included.  Fortunately, the Forest Service wised up to how special this place was and designated it as wilderness in 1978.

We are lucky enough to live within a 20-minute drive of Brainard Lake, with its alpine scenery, numerous lakes, wildflowers, and yes, even wildlife.  Today, I decided to take the dogs for a walk up to Blue Lake out of the Mitchell Lake trailhead for a nice 6-mile round trip hike.  It’s clear from how packed the parking lot is, that though visitors from out of state may not have caught on, local Coloradans have learned how awe-inspiring this place is.  The backdrop for Brainard Lake is Mt. Audubon, Pawnee Peak, and Mt. Toll, peaks ranging from 12,000 to 13,000 feet.  Brainard receives a good amount of snow in the winter, and some of those snow fields hang around for a long time, as I witnessed today on my hike.  The late snow also means that the wildflowers are plentiful late into the summer.  There’s also an abundance of willows around Brainard — a leafy, large shrub that grows around lakes and river, and a favorite food of moose.  As soon as I drove in, there was a large bull moose intensely munching away on willows right off the Brainard Lake road.

There are numerous hikes around Brainard, ranging from easy loops around Long Lake to climbing 13,200-foot Mt. Audubon, a strenuous 10-mile round trip hike.  Today, I decided on something in the middle, climbing about 800 feet to Blue Lake, ringed on three sides by Little Pawnee Peak, Mt. Toll, and Mt. Audubon.  The lake is an iridescent, blue-green color,which led me to ponder why are so many mountain lakes such magical colors of blue and green?  Apparently, the answer is more complex that I originally thought — it’s  a combination of the clear water, and what is called “rock flour.”  Rock flour are the tiny particles created by glacial erosion.  Rock flour has a certain ability to absorb and reflect certain wavelengths.  This combined with clear water’s ability to absorb long wavelengths (orange, red, yellow), crates the beautiful turquoise and aqua we often see in high alpine lakes.

Whatever the reasons, the results are quite scenic.  As I drove home, I thought of just how lucky we were to live so close to such impressive mountain scenery.  So if you are ever planning a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, you might consider taking a day’s side trip to Brainard Lake — you won’t be disappointed!

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