Satellite picture of Indian Peaks Wilderness [JPG, 130kB]
Forest service map of Indian Peaks Wilderness [JPG, 136kB]
In 2005 the prestigious IPMI image processing conference took place in Glenwood Springs in Colorado. I left with my colleague Sam the weekend before and we went for a 3 day backcountry hike in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. We made a loop from Brainard lake across Pawnee Pass to Buchanan pass and back. The loop is 24 miles and with a short side-trip we probably went some 27 miles.
The first day we hiked up towards the Isabelle Glacier, then crossed Pawnee Pass and camped at the beautiful Pawnee Lake. We had little bit of a rain in the afternoon, but otherwise it was idyllic, since there was nobody else around. The next day we descended down the valley around beautiful waterfalls and then picked up another valley to hike up towards the Buchanan pass. Despite approaching rain and storms we had decided to cross the divide and camp on the other side, to shorten what would be left for the last day. We had little adventures with crossing a stream and a steep snowfield that we needed to cross while descending from the Buchanan pass. This was a proud moment for my seven-years old rope that has always been used only to hang food to prevent it against bears. This time we used it to secure Sam as he was crossing the snow-field and eureka, he did slid and needed the rope to secure himself! Camping under the pass offered nice alpine scenery, but lots of wind as well. The last day we easily returned to Brainard lake and drove across the National Park to Glenwood Springs.
