The traverse from Audubon over to Paiute is along the connecting west ridge of Audubon - same as the east ridge of Paiute. This ridge connect is all rocky, hence, slow going. Plan on taking up to an hour to cover the mile long distance. Elevation loss and regain is not that significant, with a loss of 575 feet and 470 feet ascending. There are no great obstacles or clefts along this ridge, but plenty of large, broken rocks to navigate around or over, and plenty of just plain old rubble. Most paths of avoidance took us on the south side of the ridge. The low point saddle is about 23rds of the distance over. The last bit of gain is steep and over more broken boulder rubble. While any number of sources rate this traverse and ascent as Class 2+, a few offer a 3rd class rating.
From the summit, you can view into the more isolated peaks of this wilderness including the spectacular Lone Eagle Peak to the west. This is a very impressive view of some rugged terrain. Be aware that there are two summit areas for Paiute. Last reports I could find place the register on the southern summit while all maps indicate the northern summit to be the true high point at 13,088 ft. The two appear to be equal and various reports indicate any number of persons do not go over to the north summit. One source says the two summits are separated by a short, blunt knife edge ridge. Unfortunately, our notes from then are not detailed enough to offer any other help. What's most interesting is that Google Earth shows the south summit to be highest. We measured 13,058 but could only obtain 13,033 for the north summit, making it over 50 short of the USGS elevation. Best strategy, when in doubt, hit every high point.
For a descent path, try one of two options. Both involve heading down the south ridge that connects over to Mt. Toll. Option 1 departs the ridge a little above 12,800 and follows down a couloir that many use as an ascent route. The east side of the couloir has more stable rock for hand holds, etc. Some persons even prefer to use the rock rib on that side. This couloir will deposit you down west of "Little Blue Lake," the unnamed lake above Blue Lake at 11,833 ft. From there you can work down to Blue Lake on some tundra and/or rubble. Pick up the trail on the west and north side of Blue Lake and follow that trail back past Mitchell Lake to the parking lot.
The other option simply takes you farther down the south ridge of Paiute until you reach some difficulties above the Paiute-Toll saddle. Instead of contending with those difficulties, head east down a mix of rubble, talus and some tundra to the vicinity of "Little Blue lake" (11,833 ft.), and again, pick up the Blue Lake Trail to follow back to the parking lot where the Audubon trail began. This return hike will cover about 4.3 miles total.
Links to other information, routes & trip reports for this peak that may be helpful.