Blue Lake (Indian Peaks)
Ward, CO
A remote cirque lake at 11,320 feet beneath Mount Toll in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. The 2.6-mile trail from the Mitchell Lake Trailhead climbs steeply through krummholz forest to the deep blue lake cupped in a granite amphitheater. Snow cornices often persist on the surrounding ridges into late summer.
Photography Guide
- Best Time
- morning
- Crowds
- Quiet
- Shot Types
- landscapewidereflection
- Best Seasons
- summer
Author's Comments
The trail does not announce itself. You start at Mitchell Lake and walk past what most people consider the destination, and the crowds thin almost immediately. By the time you cross into the krummholz - those wind-stunted pines that mark the edge of where trees can survive - you are mostly alone with the sound of your own breathing and the wind moving across stone. Blue Lake sits at 11,320 feet in a granite bowl beneath Mount Toll, and the first time I came over the lip and saw it I had to stop walking. The water is the color the name promises and then some. In July there are still cornices on the ridges above, and the snowmelt runs into the lake in thin silver lines that you hear before you see. The amphitheater holds sound strangely. A raven calling from the far cliffs arrives a half second late. I came up early one August, leaving the trailhead at four in the morning so I could be at the lake before the wind picked up. That is the photograph here, if you are after one - the reflection of Toll in still water, before the day's thermals begin their work. By ten the surface is broken and the image is gone. Before eight it is glass. This is not a place for a quick visit. The last mile is steep and rocky enough that you will want both hands free at times, and the altitude does what altitude does. Bring more water than you think. Bring a layer for the wind at the lake, which is colder than the climb suggests. And then sit for a while. The light shifts. The cornices drip. You came a long way for this.
Gallery
You might also like
Nearby Places
Ward, CO
Lake Isabelle
An alpine lake at 10,868 feet in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, reached by a 2-mile trail from the Long Lake Trailhead in the Brainard Lake Recreation Area. The lake sits beneath the dramatic Isabelle Glacier and the jagged Shoshoni Peak and Apache Peak. Wildflower displays along the trail are exceptional in July.
Ward, CO
Brainard Lake
A high-elevation lake at 10,345 feet in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area, offering clear views of the Continental Divide including Mount Audubon and Paiute Peak. The lake is vehicle-accessible and provides a starting point for trails to Long Lake and Lake Isabelle. In winter, the area is popular for snowshoeing and offers snow-capped peak reflections.
Nederland, CO
Barr Lake at Brainard Lake Area Sunset Point
The area around Nederland and the Peak to Peak Highway offers multiple pullouts with views of the Indian Peaks and Continental Divide. The stretch between Nederland and Ward along Highway 72 provides west-facing vistas of snow-capped peaks. Aspen groves along this corridor produce some of the most reliable fall color in the Front Range.