Trip report
Sep 14, 2018 — Aftering being rained out the first time and blown over with overhelming wind the second time on Mt. Audubon, the Indian Peaks Wilderness finally let me go for the Mt. Audubon, Paiute Peak, Mt. Toll, Pawnee Peak traverse. From the Mitchell Lake Trailhead, I headed up the popular Mt. Audubon Trail to the summit of Mt. Audubon and scoped out the ridge to come. I followed the Class 2 ridgeline to Paiute Peak and then headed down Class 2 stuff to the saddle between Paiute Peak and Mt. Toll.
The face of Mt. Toll is Class 5, but you can avoid it by strolling along to the right on the loose slope, hugging the cliff face. A Class 3 move awaits at the end of this slope. After pulling this move, a mostly solid gully leads up to a notch just south of the summit. It was minor Class 2 to Mt. Toll's summit, and then I continued along the ridge to Pawnee Peak.
From Pawnee Peak, I noted Blue Lake to the northeast and headed down a loose slope to ledgy terrain. As you'll see on my map, my track meanders a fair amount due to cliffs and steep sections. My advice is to stick to a wide gully that hugs the base of Pawnee Peak and not just beeline it to Blue Lake. There's nothing more than easy Class 2 here to get down to Blue Lake, but the descent is made slightly more difficult due to the maze-like quality of the cliffs. Blue Lake is absurdly beautiful, especially with the fall colors. I took the Blue Lake Trail back to the trailhead.