Last weekend I did a short little hike with my Mother-in-law, Jean, and my sister-in-law, Jenna. Jean wanted to hike up to Broom Hut because she hasn't seen it since they rebuilt it in 2012. You drive about half way up Berthoud Pass on the Winter Park side and park by MM 240, there's a big orange avalanche sign and trail head signs for Second Creek. Park here and it's about 1 mile up to Broom Hut - stay on the larger trail, there are several little trails that veer off to the creek or little overlooks. I brought my dog, Ozzie and Jenna brought her two little pups, too. It was nice to have the creek water there for them. Enjoy the trip up - the views are great from every direction and just get better and better. Broom Hut appears out of nowhere and can be rented out nightly year round or there's a day visitor side that's separate - in case of bad weather or if you need to use the restroom. Here's their website with more information. There's a nice place to sit and eat lunch by Broom Hut with a picnic table and great views of the Divide. If you hike up past Broom Hut and there's First Creek with nice little waterfalls on the right. And to the left of the trail is prime moose habitat - which we found out first hand! We startled a female moose, she was fairly calm, but since we had the dogs we didn't stay long and Jean made us turn around... we had planned to continue on the old Aqueduct trail over toward Berthoud Pass, but that will have towait for another day! Total trip time was about 2 hours - including our snack and bathroom break at Broom Hut. This is a busy trail, but is highly rewarding! The grasses and trees are turning colors right now, which made it even better! And bring trekking poles if you have bad knees for the way down - made it much easier for Jean. 
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