We got to the winter trailhead just before 6am and began hiking in the dark. Thankfully the snow on the road was packed (due to copious use by x-country skiers) and there was ample light from the reflection of the last quarter (half) moon on the snow (didn't even need the headlamps this time!). It was incredibly peaceful to walk through the calm woods, with only the moonlight to guide us. In less than an hour, we made it to this view of Audubon just as the sun was rising:
Soon we were at the summer trailhead, and the snow was no longer packed down by use. After strapping on our snowshoes, we made our way through the woods towards the base of the mountain. Soon the trail completely disappeared and we climbed towards treeline, roughly following the snow obscured trail by memory.
Once above treeline the wind became ferocious. Every time we've been in this area in the winter, the wind has been terrible. Despite an almost perfect forecast, there was a steady 30-40mph wind, with probably 50-60mph gusts. As we did our best to keep from being knocked to the ground, I spotted a couple of ptarmigan a little ways ahead:
They were in their full winter white. I hadn't brought my longer telephoto "beast" lens, thinking there wouldn't be much in the way of wildlife (dang!!), so I tried to sneak up closer by contouring behind a snowbank. As I peaked over the snowbank, I frightened a third bird I hadn't seen, and it took flight for a couple of seconds!! He quickly landed and acted like nothing happened. I had never seen a ptarmigan in flight before; they seem to prefer slow movement on the ground, even when threatened by a man with a camera.
Soon he made his way back to the other two, and we watched them meander along for a little while. At this point we had our snowshoes off, as they were unnecessary on the windswept tundra, and far from helpful with balance when the wind accosted us. Then we crossed a drift and Laura promptly sank in to her waist!! Oops!
We continued on, eyes focused on the ground (the only way to avoid being blown over on the uneven terrain), plodding directly into the merciless headwind. Despite the wind, I didn't feel cold as the sun was shining and it was otherwise a glorious day. Unfortunately the exposed areas of my face (around my sunglasses) were being battered so ferociously, I was afraid I might get frostbite. We decided to call it quits at about 12,000 feet, with this view of Mt. Audubon:
We both agreed we could have made it to the top, but it just wasn't worth it. If we had ski goggles covering our exposed skin, we could have kept slogging on without worrying about frostbite. We took a more direct route down, heading straight for Mitchell Lake.
It was really enjoyable to snowshoe now, since the wind was at our back, and we were going downhill!! If only we could have had the tailwind going up! We stopped to admire this view of Mitchell Lake, Navajo Peak (poking out in the distance), and Pawnee Peak (far right):
Back in the woods and sheltered from the wind, we had a pleasant snowshoe back to the summer trailhead.
We found a suitable picnic table and ate our PB&J lunch.
This was the nicest winter day we've had while at Brainard Lake, yet the wind was still unbearable. We're definitely going to try this hike again, but with better preparation for the wind. Brainard Lake is a popular snowshoe and x-country ski destination, and we finally saw some fellow hominids as we passed the lake on the way back. Looking over the frozen lake, we see (from L to R) Pawnee Peak, Mt. Toll, Paiute Peak, and Audubon:
We bumbled around in the woods exploring and trying to avoid the throngs of people, before getting back on the closed section of road and heading back to the car. Here we crossed the icy St. Vrain Creek while exploring:
Despite our failure, this was a good warmup for the next hike I had planned. On the way to New Mexico for Christmas, Laura and I had planned on climbing Quandary Peak (one of the easier 14ers and therefore a good winter climb), and today's hike proved that it was definitely doable. Unfortunately it snowed 15 inches in Boulder the day before we left for New Mexico, and there was no way we were leaving at 4am (as planned) and driving on bad roads through the mountains. Oh well, next time.
