Blue Lake, Indian Peaks Wilderness Denver Day Hike from Brainard Lake, Alpine Lakes and Mount Toll скачать в хорошем качестве

Blue Lake, Indian Peaks Wilderness Denver Day Hike from Brainard Lake, Alpine Lakes and Mount Toll

If you’re looking for a relatively moderately challenging hike to a near-pristine alpine lake that typifies what a great Colorado alpine lake looks like, Dlue Lake is your hike. The trail from the Brainard Lake Recreation area leads into the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Parking at Brainard Lake, as of 2020, is $12, and well worth it to help support the national forest system’s upkeep and maintenance. Given what the trails at Brainard Lake provide, $12 a bargain. According to information sent to me by the Boulder District of the National Park Service, Blue Lake itself is a deep alpine lake with a mean water level of 11,340 feet above sea level, a maximum depth of 100 feet, and 22.7 surface acres. For those of you who like to hike and then fish, Blue Lake has a reputation as a fantastic spot for greenback cutthroat and rainbow trout. Also, in Blue Lake, the months following ice off are the most productive for fishing as the trout are in a feeding frenzy. Blue Lake sits at the base of Mt. Toll in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Mt. Toll is one of the most appropriately named mountains in Colorado. Named for Roger W. Toll, a charter member of the Colorado Mountain Club and at one time the Rocky Mountain National Park superintendent, Mt. Toll is named for a Coloradan with a commitment to the quality and preservation of our outdoor spaces. Personally, I find the Indian Peaks to be one of the more attractive areas. There are no 14ers and because of that, were the wilderness not so close to Denver, the Indian Peaks would be a less visited. But not having 14ers does not mean that the Wilderness lacks beauty. In fact, many of Colorado’s 12- and 13-thousand foot peaks are incredibly pretty structures with dramatic outlines and magnificent lakes in their glacial basins. Blue Lake itself is the largest of the three lakes reachable on this hike. Mitchell, near the trail’s start, is easily accessible, small, and shallow. At 13.5 surface acres and a maximum depth of 14.5 feet, Mitchell Lake is much more of a pond than a lake. It does have good cutthroat and brook trout potential, however, for fishermen who don’t want to hike the whole way to Blue Lake. The Blue Lake trail sits nestled in a forest that rather quickly gives way to an unshaded trail below tree line. In Colorado, tree line is between 11,000 and 12,000 feet depending on the specific location and trees there. Here on the Blue Lake trail, tree line is around 11,200 feet, slightly less in places. For the adventurer, the Blue Lake trail offers a nice mix of well-trodden trail and rocky fields for rock hopping. Beyond Blue Lake, the trail to Little Blue Lake is a rocky scramble of around 500 feet. #IndianPeaksWilderness #BlueLake #DenverDayHike References: U.S. Department of Agriculture Fishing Information Handout, available upon request to the Boulder Ranger district station, 303-541-2500 or [email protected] John Evans and the Sand Creek Massacre https://www.northwestern.edu/magazine... Polis creates board to reconsider controversial names of Colorado mountains, public places, in interest of inclusivity | Greely Tribune, 3 July 2020 | Saja Hindi| Accessed 21 July 2020 https://www.greeleytribune.com/2020/0.... The UnTolled Story | PeakMind | Accessed 21 July 2020 https://thepeakmind.com/2010/03/15/mt... Indian Peaks Wilderness | Wikipedia | Accessed 21 July 2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_... My Patreon Page:   / davidhancock   Follow me on Twitter:   / _david_hancock_   Gear I used for Filming and Editing: Sony A7S II, Yashica 45mm f/1.7 lens, and a lapel mic. My Photography Website: http://www.5119photography.com/