My brother Mark and I had just got back from breakfast at Foolish Craig’s Cafe when he put forth the following question: “So, what do you feel like doing today?”

I knew this question was coming. And I’m fairly certain Mark knew what my response was going to be.

“Let’s go for a hike,” I suggested. “Know of any places outside of Boulder we could go?”

About 25 minutes later we were zooming past cyclists grinding up the Lefthand Canyon, on our way to Ward-where cars go to die, according to Mark-and Brainard Lake. 

Last fall Enedina had shared some photos of Brainard after an excursion with the Fischers so I had a sense of the place. But I’d never heard of the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Long Lake or Pawnee Pass. Turns out, I’m probably the only person in Boulder County who hasn’t; it’s a very popular destination, drawing hikers of all ages and shapes.

There’s a reason for that: it’s gorgeous country, offering up spectacular alpine vistas, gushing streams, and tons of wildflowers. The view of  the craggy peaks to the northwest left me slack-jawed. It was simply beautful.

And it was a welcomed respite from all the shit of the past couple weeks in Pueblo.

We hit the trailhead without really knowing where we’d be going. We made a quick stop to take in the view at Long Lake.The path forked and I looked at Mark and he suggested keeping to the right, which put us on course for the Pawnee Pass.

Our conversations along the way meandered from film-is “Citizen Kane” still relevant, Hitchcock’s various MacGuffins, and Stanley Kramer’s eerie “On the Beach”-to how Boulder is more expensive to live in than Paris to how it seems Germans inexplicably show up everywhere you go during the summer months.

Now the Pawnee Pass trail tops out at over 12,500 feet, which is about 1,500 feet closer to the sky than my body likes to be as long as I have two feet on the ground. And the higher you get on this particular path, the more switchbacks you have to negotiate to get up the trail. And I hate switchbacks. They just mess with my head.

Long story short: we didn’t make it to the top of the pass. We did make it above timberline, though, and that was a nice a consolation. We even saw a marmot.

The hike down the trail was much quieter than going up. I was kinda sapped by the altitude and Mark’s knee was bothering him. Our dimmished mood lifted as we walked along Long Lake, where we saw a moose-a bull we were told by a fellow hiker-bedded down in the brush near the lake. It was the first time Marco or I had ever seen one “in the wild.”

By the time we got back to Boulder our mood had improved. We went out for burritos and beers at Illegal Pete’s down on Pearl Street to commemorate our outing. Mark estimated our outing was a 15-mile affair but after looking online, I’m guessing it was bit less.

Regardless, it was a tremendous way to spend the day with my little brother. It was time well spent.