Amazing Colorado Hike to Blue Lake and Mitchell Lake in Brainard Lake RA (Featuring Nick Sangetta)

Timeline:
1:35 - Mitchell Lake
2:56 - "Put One Foot In Front of the Other"
6:41 - Blue Lake
10:09 - Many Moose.

Nick's video of the same hike:    • Another Great Trail in Brainard! Hiking Bl...  

My other videos at Brainard Lake RA:
Lake Isabelle:    • Lake Isabelle and Long Lake - Brainard Lak...  
Jean Lunning Trail (and Lake Isabelle):    • The Adventures of Bubbles and Coach Pa - C...  


About the hike:
Starting at the Mitchell Lake Trailhead, the easy-to-follow trail crosses a bridge over a wonderful little rapids. Shortly after that the path meanders to Mitchell Lake -- a peaceful little lake at about the 1 mile mark after the trail. From there, we follow the trail up around another creek toward the upward portion of the hike. At different times of the year, you will see amazing wildflowers at this portion of the hike. After a bit of an uphill climb, the trail will level off and you will pass by several smaller (and at least one fairly large) lake that are unnamed as far as I can tell. This area is the spot where we saw the moose. Past the largest lake, the trail turns back uphill where you will cross tree line into a spectacular rocky valley. To your left is a waterfall while you are surrounded by mountains. The final push will take you to Blue Lake. We did not continue further, but the hile will continue up to Little Blue Lake if you are so inclined (pun intended). The trip to Blue Lake was just short of 3 miles and 1000 feet elevation gain.

About Brainard Lake Recreational Area:
Located near Ward, Colorado Brainard Lake RA contains some of the most amazing trails I have ever hiked. This is a very popular park, which requires reservation passes to park at many of its trailheads. During the winter, you can only park in the winter parking zone.

The reservation passes cost roughly $16/car and if you are interested in going, you should plan well in advanced as the reservations are in short supply and frequently sell out. Also, it is advisable to download the QR code because there is very poor wifi or cell coverage in the area, so attempting to look up your email once you get in line to get into the park will not work well. (This happened to us -- it took literally 10 minutes to convince the people at the gate that we had tickets).

About Nick Sangetta:
Nick is a Colorado-based Youtuber, who specializes in videos that highlight the wondrous beauty of Colorado mountain hiking (among other things). He can name virtually every mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park along with the surrounding area -- probably because he has already climbed it. He's also probably done a video on it too. For rad hiking videos, take a look at his channel at:    / @nicksangetta