Paiute Peak (13,088') is located in the Indian Peaks Wilderness between Mt Audubon and Mt Toll. No trail reaches the summit, however two non-technical routes from the Mitchell Lake Trailhead offer access. The Blue Lake approach is highlighted by several alpine lakes and a challenging scramble up a steep couloir to the summit.

Mt Toll (12,979') reflects in Little Blue Lake, located approximately .7 miles past Blue Lake

The trail skirts Mitchell Lake at the base of Mt Audubon, the 6th tallest peak in the Indian Peaks Wilderness

Looking east across the Mt Audubon saddle, a direct route with some class III scrambling to Paiute Peak

Oxygen percentage is the same at high elevation and sea level (21%); the problem for people is that there are many fewer molecules of everything at high elevation, including oxygen

Moose were re-introduced to CO in 1978 with animals from Utah, and again in 1979 with individuals from WY

Maintained travel ends on the west side of Blue Lake, where a fairly well defined route leads into the upper valley

View of Upper Coney Lake and Coney Lake from Paiute Peak

Alpine tundra plants grow low to the ground to increase stability and minimize exposure to harsh conditions

The columbine genus arrived in North America 10,000 - 40,000 years ago from Asia over the Bering land bridge

Looking southwest across the Blue Lake valley at Mt Toll, Pawnee Peak and the top of the Pawnee Lake cirque from Paiute Peak

Couloir, derived from the French word for 'corridor' or 'passage', is a steep gully in the side of a mountain

Brainard Lake is the gateway to the Indian Peaks' Four Lake Travel Zone

About 2/3 of Colorado's water drains east of the Continental Divide

Alpine tundra grasses include the Alpine Blue Grass, Skyline Blue Grass, Spike Trisetum, Tufted Hair Grass, Spreading Wheatgrass, Kobresia and Pyrennian Sedge

The route scrambles above a rock notch that opens north with a direct look at Longs Peak

Unlike arctic tundra, alpine tundra soil is well drained

Fellfields occur on windswept slopes that hold little moisture, with rock comprising up to half its surface

The Mitchell Lake outlet area is a good place to find moose browsing willow and aquatic plants

The Continental Divide is a natural barrier between waters that flow east into the Atlantic and west into the Pacific; it runs north-south from Alaska to northwestern South America

800 miles of the CDT run through Colorado

Blue Lake is framed by Mt Toll's distinguished summit, which is also accessible via an unmaintained but non-technical route

Outlying ponds dot the transitional landscape between Mitchell Lake and Blue Lake