Colorado Running Loops: Indian Peaks Pawnee Buchanan Pass

One running loop that should be on every Colorado trail runners bucket list is the Pawnee- Buchanan loop. The views throughout the run are gorgeous, the trail is technical and challenging, and it is the perfect distance for a great, long training run.

Date Run: July 13th, 2014

The Pawnee-Buchanan loop starts at Brainard Lake recreation area. It is supposed to be 27 miles, but we managed to get a bit lost and our run ended up at 30 miles, with 7,647 feet of climbing. Since it is a loop, it can be run in either direction.

The view down to Lake Isabelle

When Ryan and I ran this loop, we started by climbing up and over Pawnee Pass first, doing the loop in a clockwise direction. However, after completing this loop I would recommend doing Buchanan pass first- so going counter-clockwise. The reason for this is that the backside of Pawnee pass was very technical and steep, and we couldn't run down it- usually we are very strong downhill runners and can make up a lot of time by flying downhill. The terrain didn't allow that, so it took a lot longer to run than we expected. We also got a bit lost going this way, so maybe if we were running the other direction, the trailhead junctions would be more obvious- maybe?

Things to note about this run:

• Remember to bring $10 in cash to park at Brainard Lake Recreation Area (or hitchhike like we did since we never remember cash). If you decide to run the way we did, going over Pawnee first, park at the Mitchell Lake trailhead and head to Long Lake, then follow the signs for Pawnee Pass. 

• A great description of both directions of the loop can be found here (bottom of the page)

• One time consuming part of this run that I didn't know about ahead of time was a very large avalanche debris field that you had to pick your way through. This involved climbing up and over a lot of very large, downed trees. 

• The trail coming down from Buchanan pass was very faint and overgrown, with a lot of bushwhacking. This is also where we got lost- apparently there is a sign for Beaver Creek trail, but we never found it and ended up looping around on some other trail- Red Deer lake- don't go on that one!

• There are plenty of lakes and rivers along the trail, so finding water wasn't an issue. We did use our Sawyer filter, but most of the water was snow run-off. Despite having ran this in mid-July, there was still a lot of snow in sections of Pawnee pass- in fact, the ranger said that we might not make it through the snowfields!

There were a few stream crossings

• Pay close attention to the elevation profile. Even though this run has 2 named passes, I didn't realize that there was one other climb that went up and over 11,000 feet. For us, this was at the end of the run, so it may have been particularly traumatic to me, since we were 4 miles over plan and out of food. And I was very, very tired.

• There were 2 major stream crossings that required getting your socks and shoes completely soaked. I recommend wool socks

• I recommend starting as early as possible. Since there are 2 major mountain passes to climb, one of which inevitably happens towards the end of the run, regardless of direction, afternoon thunderstorms are a major consideration. We hung out around treeline for a while before crossing Buchanan because we weren't entirely sure what the clouds were going to do. We got lucky and there was no rain or lightning, but there was definitely both in the area. Always be prepared with warmer clothes and pay attention to the weather!

With that being said, here are some pictures! Not pictured are the 2 bull moose that we saw- too busy running carefully away to snap a photo!

Lake Isabelle

There was a lot of snow left for Mid-July!

Pawnee Pass- the first major climb is done

The view looking down from Pawnee Pass. Yes, that is the trail.

After going down many switchbacks, we got most of the way down from Pawnee Pass, and here is a view of Pawnee Lake

Technical, steep descent

This is totally staged :)

Gorgeous winding trail through the Indian Peaks wilderness

Pawnee Lake. There were A LOT of flies. 

I guess there's a reason it's called the 'Rocky Mountains'

I wasn't miserable yet

The Avalanche debris field. Nature's amazing power- these were all full grown, normal size trees

In a meadow very similar to this, I thought to myself- wow, if I were a moose, this is where I'd hang out. When I turned my head left, 2 moose were standing 15 feet away, watching me closely. I almost crapped my pants

Trudging up Buchanan Pass, keeping our eye on the skies

Those clouds are totally un-threatening

Looking back from Buchanan pass

This marmot was this close to me. He was so completely unafraid of me, it was bizarre!

Here is our Garmin Data. Note- this was a particularly bad day for me, and we went a lot slower than I had anticipated: