CMC Brainard Hut
CMC Brainard Hut is the Colorado Mountain Club’s Brainard Cabin in the Brainard Lake Recreation Area of Roosevelt National Forest, built in 1928 and used as a backcountry winter warming stop and an overnight reservation hut. The cabin sits at about 10,405 feet and provides access to the eastern portion of the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, including Long, Isabelle, Mitchell, and Blue Lakes, plus Mt. Audubon, Mt. Toll, Pawnee, and other nearby peaks.
For day use in winter, the cabin is open roughly 10:00 to 2:30 on most weekend days (mid Dec to mid April) as a midday warming hut for visitors. Guests are asked to leave a $1 per person donation and sign the guest register. For overnight stays, reservations are required; the cabin can be reserved up to a total of 12 people, with overnight costs listed on the operator’s reservation page and different rates for CMC members vs non-CMC members and half-price for children under 13. The hut requires bringing your own food, sleeping bags, and flashlights, while wool blankets & pillows are available for very light travelers. Inside, it has wood stoves and an outhouse; there is no cell phone service at or near the cabin, and it relies on volunteer day hosting outside of overnight reservation times. Basic responsible-use practices include keeping shutters closed and the door locked when you’re away and doing cabin systems close-down properly when you leave.