Brainard Lake Recreation Area: Hiking to Beautiful Lakes

Colorado is famous for their stunning mountains and breath-taking alpine lakes.  And Brainard Lake Recreation Area lives up to this reputation!

Less than an hour from Boulder, this stunning park is absolutely worth visiting.  Whether you have half a day or a whole week to spend here, you can’t go wrong with any amount of time spent in Brainard Lake Recreation Area.  

Today we’ll discuss how to navigate the parking reservations, hiking in the park, and the lakes here.

Important Links

• Brainard Lake website – Forest Service
• Parking Reservations – Required from June – October
• Basic Map of Brainard Lake Recreation Area
• Lake Isabelle Trail – AllTrails Link
• Camping in Brainard Lake Rec. Area
• Hiking Journal – Never Forget the Details of Your Favorite Hikes Again!

Location

Brainard Lake Recreation Area is less than 50 minutes from Boulder, CO.  Making this is a great day trip for many people who live in this area.

And from other major Colorado cities, Brainard Lake is 1.5 hours from Denver, about 2.5 hours from Colorado Springs, and 4.5 hours from Grand Junction.  

Parking Reservations 

Like many beautiful and popular places, Brainard Lake Recreation Area has a reservation system.  With the influx of visitors and with social media photos and videos, this reservation system helps to protect the beautiful area.  It also gives visitors a better experience.

To ensure the beauty and wildlife is protected, they have created a parking reservation system on recreation.gov.  The reservations are released 14 days in advance, on a rolling basis.  They are available online until the entry date/time, assuming they are not sold out.  

I was able to book my reservation the day before I went, because it was a weekday.  The weekends will sell out much quicker, so be aware of that if you intend to visit on a weekend.  Once you are on the website, you can decide which parking lot you are looking to book.  

Parking Lot Info

Depending on the type of parking reservation you get, that is where you will have to park.  From the image below, you can see that there are 4 different parking locations.  

If you select the…

• Brainard Lake Picnic Site/Trailhead, you’ll park at the Brainard Lake Parking Lot 
• Long Lake Trailhead, you’ll park at the Long Lake Parking Lot
• Mitchell Lake Trailhead, you’ll park at the Mitchell Lake Parking Lot
• Niwot Picnic Site/Trailhead, you’ll park at the Niwot Picnic Area

Once you have decided on which reservation to get here you will then purchase the parking reservation, AND pay your entrance fee.  So let’s talk about how much this will cost you.  

Fees

There are several different rates to be aware of.  First off is the $2 per vehicle reservation fee.  Every car that enters here has to pay this, regardless of what park pass you may have.  

As for the day pass, here are the rates.  Be aware, there are NO REFUNDS.  

• 1-day Personal Vehicle – $16.00
• 1-day Motorcycle – $9.00
• 1-day Bus – $61.00
• 1-day Multi-Passenger Van – $38.00

Now, there is one exception to this, and that’s if you have the America the Beautiful Pass.  This pass costs $80 and is good for 12 months.  The pass gets you and a car-full of guests into any national place (park, monument, seashore, etc.) for free.  Essentially, if you plan on visiting more than 4 national park locations, this pass is the most cost-effective way to see these protected places.  

So if $16.00 is a bit steep, but you are planning on visiting other national parks in the area, you’ll want to look into The America the Beautiful Pass to bypass that fee.  This pass has saved my husband and I hundreds of dollars by waiving entry fees.  

Time to Spend Here

Ok DEEP Breath!  That was a lot of logistics!  Between the fees, reservations, and where to park, it’s a lot, but I promise you this place is worth it.  

If you only have a day to spend here (like I did), that is plenty of time to hike, explore the lakes, and enjoy a picnic lunch.  Brainard Lake Recreation Area is perfect for a day trip filled with hiking, paddleboarding, fishing or just observing wildlife.  

But if you are hoping to spend multiple days here, there’s plenty to do for several days of visiting.  You can take longer hikes, look for the famous moose that live here, you might even want to consider camping here.  

Camping 

If you’re looking to make the trip to Brainard Lake Recreation Area a weekend or even week-long event, you can camp right in the park!  You’ll have to make your reservations here.  But first, here’s a little info.

The campground is called Pawnee Campground and it’s pretty barebones.  With 47 sites for many types of rigs (and a few tent-only sites), you’ll get a table, a fire grate, and a bear locker.  

The campground is open from Late June to Mid September each year.  Sites cost $29 (as of 9/2025) per night and you can make your reservations here.   

Be aware that sites DO NOT have electricity or any type of hook-ups, and the campground does not have a dump station or showers.  There are centralized pit toilets, but that’s about it.  But if being just steps away from the stunning Lake Brainard is the name of the game for you, this campground is worth it. 

Things To Do at Brainard Lake Recreation Area

Whether you are visiting for a day or camping for a week, there is so much to do here!  There’s obviously camping, which we’ve already covered.  There’s non-motorized  boating in the lake, and there’s fishing, specifically for Brook Trout.  

And if you want to see more of the area, there’s really great hiking and biking available here.  Personally, I loved hiking here, but we’ll get to that in a minute.  

There are also a couple great picnic areas throughout the park.  This is the perfect place for lunch with a view.  And finally, there are great opportunities to photograph the wildlife and the scenery here.  

Hiking Trails

In my opinion, the best thing to do while visiting Brainard Lake Recreation Area is to take a hike.  I only had a few hours to spend here, so I hardly scratched the surface of this beautiful place.  

You can find some amazing hiking trails listed on AllTrails.  You can hike just around Brainard Lake, up to Lake Isabelle, or even one of the connecting peaks.  So I highly recommend checking out that list above and choosing a trail that fits your abilities.   

My Day at Brainard Lake

In August 2025 I secured a parking reservation at the Brainard Lake Trailhead.  I arrived at 5:30am and was able to watch one of the most beautiful sunrises I’d ever seen.  After the sunrise, I sat and waited in hopes of seeing a moose, but unfortunately, I wasn’t that lucky.  

At this point, I decided to get a quick hike in!  After a quick glance at my options (since I didn’t have a ton of time), I decided to hike from Lake Brainard past Long Lake and then onto Lake Isabelle. 

You most likely won’t have any phone service in this area.  So come prepared with your desired hiking trail already downloaded downloaded on AllTrails.  Here is the link to the trail that I hiked.  

Long Lake

I started out on the south side of Brainard Lake, following the path beside the lake.  I then came to the trailhead of Long Lake, Lake Isabelle, and Pawnee Pass.  The trail is an easy to follow dirt path with blue markers on the trees.

Within a half mile of the trailhead I came to the end of Long Lake. You can choose to go left or right at the trail split, either way will lead you up to Lake Isabelle. 

And while Long Lake is beautiful, it’s nothing compared to Lake Isabelle, trust me.

Lake Isabelle

The trail continues to lead you through the peaceful pines of Colorado before you find yourself at a few switchbacks.  This trail only has about 700 feet of elevation gain, and most of it comes right here.  Take your time and drink plenty of water since you’ll be hiking above 10,000 feet this entire hike.

Before I knew it, I was in an open field and crossing a creek on a small bridge.  Finally, at the 3.4 mile mark, I was greeted by the stunning Lake Isabelle.

The mountains stretch far above you as you stand on the banks of Lake Isabelle.  With bits of glaciers and snow still visible, even in August, this trail is insanely beautiful.  Alpine lakes are not all created equal, but Lake Isabelle in Brainard Lake Recreation Area is a knockout.

The Descent

Once you’ve had your fill, you could continue onto Pawnee Pass or Isabelle Glacier.  But as I needed to get going, I headed back to the truck at this point.  

You mostly return the way you came, but you could choose to go around the other side of Long Lake if you choose.  I went the other way in hopes of seeing wildlife, but again I was unsuccessful.  

The trail is entirely downhill and it didn’t take me long to hike back the 3.4 miles to my parked truck.  I wish I had had more time to spend hiking here, but this little glimpse into Brainard Lake’s beauty was better than not going.  

I headed back to where I was staying.  Which leads me to talk a little bit about the area!

The Area – Nearby Town and Nearby Hiking

If you’re looking for a town where there are hotels to stay in, restaurants and breweries, but is not a big city, I highly recommend Nederland.  This town has hotels, places to eat, a major grocery store, and is only 30 minutes from Brainard Lake.  

But if you’re looking for additional hiking nearby, you’ll want to check out Mount Bierstadt, which is to the south.  You can get all the information you could ever want from this post.

PHOTO

Or if you want to visit the closest national park, you’ll love visiting Rocky Mountain National Park. You can hike to Sky Pond or for an easier hike, you can hike to Lake Haiyaha.  The national park offers beautiful views, incredible hikes, and amazing wildlife.     

-Conclusion

With so many amazing places to go hiking in Colorado, Brainard Lake Recreation Area might be easy to miss.  But trust me, you’ll want to spend at least a few hours in this lovely place.

With stunning lakes, seemingly endless trails, a campground and mountains galore, you’ll love every minute spent in Brainard Lake Recreation Area.  

As always, feel free to email me at averagewildexperience@gmail.com with any questions about this place.

-Happy Hiking!