Isabelle Glacier Trail - Hiking trail near Ward, Colorado, United States - Description

Follow the Pawnee Pass Trail #907 as it climbs gradually for two miles, through wooded terrain, into the Indian Peaks Wilderness, past Long Lake to Lake Isabelle, which sits just below the tree line.
At Lake Isabelle, follow Isabelle Glacier Trail #908 as it forks left from the Pawnee Pass Trail and continues along the north side of Lake Isabelle to the source of the South Saint Vrain Creek - Isabelle Glacier. The Isabelle Glacier Trail is a difficult trail, climbing over talus and passing through swampy areas on its way to the upper lake.

Beyond the lake, there is a narrow, but constructed switchback trail up a somewhat unstable steep, rocky slope, which may be hidden under the skirts of the glacier early in the summer. The Isabelle Glacier Trail ends beside Isabelle Glacier in a very steep-walled cirque basin framed by Shoshone, Apache and Navajo Peaks.

The Long Lake Trailhead is within the Brainard Lake Recreation Area, off of Highway 72, 13 miles north of Nederland, just north of the town of Ward. Turn west onto the Brainard Lake Road (County Road 102, National Forest System Road 112 - closed at halfway point from late October through late June or early July). Travel approximately five miles on the paved road to Brainard Lake. The Long Lake Trailhead is a half mile up the left fork of a side road that turns off at the west end of Brainard Lake.