Don's Blog - Final Colorado Trip Report 8-27-21

For our final trip Jan and my son Chris and I went to the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area. Specifically two weeks earlier on the computer we got a ticket to park at Long Lake near the Brained Lake Trailhead.  I have been coming here for years and it is only the second time ever that we have had a parking spot at the Long Lake Trailhead. When we arrived at the Brained Lake Station the man at the gate said, "I see you won the lottery." He scanned our ticket and we drove to Brained Lake where we were again met by an enthusiastic lady who again checked our permit. We then drove up to the Long Lake parking lot where there indeed were some parking places. There we were checked for a third time by another friendly enthusiastic lady to make  certain that my lottery ticket was real. This one had a New  York accent. I had to place the ticket on my dash board for all to see. (This really happened.)

We packed up our lunch and took off on the quarter mile trail to Long Lake.

We finally go to the spot that this trip is all about. This is one of the most breathtaking places not just in Colorado but the world. The usually snow capped Indian peaks preside over Long Lake which empties into a rapid creek.

We walked to through the wind (which was creating medium size white caps on the lake) to a secluded area in the pines for 

for lunch. Then we took a trail down to a sand beach on the lake.

The view is quietly spectacular.

The wind had calmed remarkably. The lake is about one mile long so twice that for a walk around. Instead of circuiting the lake we just looked for flowers So late in the season there were only a few.

Gentian

Kings Crown

We had a wonderful day at a special place.

Here is the creek outflowing from the lake.

I highly recommend you put the  Long Lake Trailhead on your Lottery List.