Routes from Beaver Reservoir
To reach Beaver Reservoir drive 7.4 miles on CO 72 south of its junction with CO 7, or 2.5 miles north of the town of Ward. Turn west CR 96 after the unpaved road and drive 2.5 miles to a roadside parking spot on the northern shore of Beaver Reservoir.
This is the beginning of a 3.5-mile four-wheel-drive road to Coney Flats, a wide, open area made marshy by beaver activity around Coney Creek. This road definitely should not be attempted in a normal passenger car. There is room to park a few cars at the spot where the four-wheel-drive road leaves Beaver Reservoir. Additional parking is available on USFS land bordering the road immediately before you reach the private reservoir.
Walking up the four-wheel-drive road takes you through easy grades in lodgepole pine forest past an occasional beaver-made marsh. This road has large, loose, rounded rocks that vehicles constantly dislodge. The rocks are hard on your feet. After 2.0 miles this road splits; hikers go right and vehicles left. The hiking route originally was also for vehicles and still contains large rocks that are no easier on the feet than the road surface. The split at least separates backcountry pedestrians from automobiles.
For a while hikers follow the top of the south wall of Middle St. Vrain Valley. The valley is barely visible through the trees, but you still get the feeling of being on the edge.
After more than 1.0 mile of segregation, hikers arrive at a short reintegration of their route with the four-wheel-drive road and a branch of Coney Creek, which they cross on a bridge. Here the Beaver Creek Trail intersects from the south. Follow this trail to a nearby second bridge that takes you across Coney Creek at the Indian Peaks Wilderness Boundary. This is the end of the four-wheel-drive road at the Coney Flats Trailhead.
From the trailhead the broad trail runs toward Buchanan Pass, the low saddle (11,837 feet) with a permanent snowfield below it and to the left, 3.5 miles west of Coney Flats. The trail is in good condition, running first through quaking aspens and limber pines, then through Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir. Ultimately trees give way to tundra and tundra to rocks as the trail snakes steeply through switchbacks to the pass. A left turn at Buchanan Pass leads across 0.5 mile of tundra, gaining 467 feet of elevation to Sawtooth Mountain, the easternmost point on the Continental Divide.
About 0.2 mile from the Coney Flats Trailhead, the Coney Lake Trail branches left (southwest) from the main trail and follows the Coney Creek drainage to Coney Lake and Upper Coney Lake (about 2.0 and 3.0 miles, respectively). Beyond the lower lake the route becomes less distinct and more rugged. Upper Coney Lake has a very dramatic setting in the cirque between Paiute Peak and Mount Audubon.
Especially around Upper Coney Lake, the steep slopes covered with loose rocks are ideal habitat for the pika, or cony (also spelled coney). This little roundeared cousin of the rabbit has caused a certain amount of confusion about locations. Nearby to the north in Rocky Mountain National Park’s Wild Basin is Cony Lake, source of Cony Creek. The two spelling variations of the animal’s name are no help in alleviating the confusion.
The Beaver Creek Trail ends 1.4 miles past the Coney Creek Trail branch, at its intersection with Buchanan Pass Trail. (On maps this trail to Red Deer Lake is called the Buchanan Pass Trail because it heads to the pass from the Middle St. Vrain Valley. The easiest way to the pass, however, is from Beaver Reservoir, as described earlier.) A turn to the right (north) on Buchanan Pass Trail will lead you to Red Deer Lake. The first part of the trail to Red Deer Lake is fairly easy, ascending over snowfields in early summer that later melt to boost wildflower displays. However, as you pass over the top of the ridge and begin to descend more steeply, interior alarms begin to ring that perhaps you missed the lake somehow. Fear not. Before descending all the way into the Middle St. Vrain Valley, the trail switchbacks to climb again toward the lake.
After 0.8 mile from the previous trail junction, you can turn left to ascend rather steeply toward Red Deer Lake. The right branch descends gently to an old sawmill site and the St. Vrain Glacier Trail along Middle St. Vrain Creek. The Red Deer Lake Trail climbs steadily for about 0.5 mile to the open, rocky glacial debris of the Red Deer Lake basin and the lakeshore.
Red Deer Lake, about 6.5 miles from Beaver Reservoir, is a rock-and-krummholz-rimmed tarn enlarged by a small dam. Red deer is the European name for the animal that Americans call elk. From the place where the trail reaches the lakeshore, you can see a mountain called Elk Tooth peeking over the top of a ridge on the opposite side of the lake. In the entire area covered by this book, these two features are the only ones named for the most spectacular animal you are likely to see along the trails.
Another four-wheel-drive road, a little less than 1.0 mile long, connects Coney Flats with the Middle St. Vrain road.