Basics
- Location:
- 35 miles west of Boulder
- Setting:
- Mountainous
- Length:
- 8.4 mile roundtrip
- Time:
- 4 to 5 hours
- Trailhead Elevation:
- 10500 feet
- Elevation Change:
- 1500 feet
- Season:
- June - October
Description
Follow the Pawnee Pass Trail #907 as it climbs gradually for 2 miles, through wooded terrain, into the Indian Peaks Wilderness, past Long Lake to Lake Isabelle, which sits just below the tree line.
At Lake Isabelle, follow Isabelle Glacier Trail #908 as it forks left from the Pawnee Pass Trail and continues along the north side of Lake Isabelle to the source of the South St. Vrain Creek - Isabelle Glacier. The Isabelle Glacier Trail is a difficult social trail, climbing over talus and passing through swampy areas on its way to the upper lake.
Beyond the lake, there is a narrow, but constructed switchback trail up a somewhat unstable steep, rocky slope, which may be hidden under the skirts of the glacier early in the summer. The Isabelle Glacier Trail ends finally beside Isabelle Glacier in a very steep-walled cirque basin framed by Shoshone, Apache, and Navajo Peaks.
Length: Long Lake TH to Long Lake - 0.2 miles; to Lake Isabelle - 2.1 miles; to upper lake - 3.7 miles; to Isabelle Glacier - 4.2 miles. DISTANCES ARE ONE-WAY.
Details
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Map + Directions
Basic Directions
Proceed 13 miles north of Nederland, west of Boulder on Highway 72 to just north of the town of Ward.
Turn west onto the Brainard Lake Road (a.k.a. County Rd. 102, FDR 112). Travel approximately 5 miles on the paved road to Brainard Lake. (This road is closed half way from about late October to late June or early July).
The Long Lake Trailhead is a half mile up the left fork of a side road that turns off at the west end of Brainard Lake.
