Colorado Trail - Day 11

August 22, 2017
Camped CW33.0 (16.0) 11,503'

I was a bit cold last night and didn't want to get up. Even so, I was on the trail by seven. After about an hour I came to Alex and Ryan's camp. I met them in Twin Lakes. They were packing up. I continued the climb to Lake Ann Pass. After awhile I saw Ryan coming. He summited a few minutes after I. Once we started down I never saw him again. His knees are bothering him so that's probably why.

I was really dragging today. Maybe I didn't eat enough yesterday, I don't know. Anyway, I stopped early today and hopefully I'll be rested tomorrow. During the day I stopped and took a nap for about 40 minutes. I also stopped to cook dinner before finishing the day.

Part of the trail allows motorcycles and a couple riders went by. They were at an overlook and I stopped and talked to them. they're from Wisconsin and are on vacation riding out here for a week.

It rained a little while I was finishing up. I'm camped next to a small lake. It's really nice and is a couple miles before Cottonwood Pass.

Flowers Climbing to Lake Ann Pass

Lake Ann

View From Lake Ann Pass

Beaver Dam?

Log Cabin Ruins Near Texas Creek

Lakeside Camp

Colorado Trail - Day 10

August 21, 2017
Camped CW17.0 (23.3) 10,853'

I cowboy camped last night so it was a bit quicker getting packed up and ready to go this morning. I did see a couple eagles flying nearby. They were gone before I was able to get my camera though.

I was on the trail at 7:00 and started the walk around Twin Lakes. Some people said to skip it because it's boring and can be hot. I really enjoyed going around the lakes though so I'm glad I didn't listen to them. I took a couple dips in the lake to clean up too. That was cool and refreshing.

Today was the solar eclipse. I know it happened but I didn't notice when it occurred. I did notice a time where everything became quiet for awhile. The birds stopped making noise. I bet that was it.

Today I had a choice to make. Take the traditional CT route of Collegiate East, or take the Collegiate West alternate. Everything I've been hearing is that the big views are to the west. It adds a few miles and a few thousand more feet of elevation gain, but is well worth it. I took Greeley's advice and went west.

Taking the Collegiate West alternate, the big obstacle today was Hope Pass, a steep 3300' climb. It still had flagging and such from the Leadville 100 race. It took me about 2.5 hours to complete the climb. Now I'm beyond hope!

There was a long descent after the pass; everything went down hill beyond hope. The trail followed along valleys. I chatted with a few hikers but didn't see any that I saw yesterday at Twin Lakes.

I'm set up to climb Lake Ann Pass first thing tomorrow.

Prayer Flags on Hope Pass

Collegiate Wilderness

Tonight's Camp

Colorado Trail - Day 9

August 20, 2017
Camped at 176.7 (9.0) 9285'

I had a pretty easy hike this morning as it was mostly all downhill though there was some up. I felt a bit bad about not climbing Elbert but not that bad. It was nice to have an easy and short day today.

When I reached the highway into Twin Lakes, I started walking to town. Just a couple minutes later a man offered me a ride in. His name was, "Chief No Teeth" of all things. It was nice getting the ride. Thanks Chief No Teeth!

So the plan was to get into Twin Lakes for lunch, get a bed at the hostel, cleanup, resupply, and hang out all day.

All but getting a bed and cleaning up occurred. The hostel had some issues and shut down for the season, the lodge had no vacancies, and I didn't look beyond that.

I and several other hikers hung out in front of the general store all afternoon. There was Alex, Emily, Laura, David, and a couple others whose names I don't remember. A gal named Luna hung out with us for a bit too and shared some watermelon with us. Interestingly enough, she reminded me of Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter movies.

The resupply was very expensive, $70. I wasn't thrilled with that as stuff was 2 to 3 times more than normal. A new stove fuel canister was $10! I will say though, that the beer was priced right. A Gatorade and 16oz IPA cost just $5.

Emily, Laura, David, and I had dinner at the lodge. That was fun. At the table next to us was a couple hiking the CDT. The man kept commenting about things to us. It was all good, we had a great time. We probably should of had them join us as there was room at our table.

After dinner I hiked back to the trail and found a place to camp. After setting things up I noticed my water bottle with filter was missing. There was nothing else to do but to go back to town and find it. I lucked out as three people drove up and asked me a question about the trail just when I got to the highway and gave me a ride. I found what was missing then walked back to my camp.

Good Morning

Last Night's Camp

Mt. Elbert

The Twin Lakes

Twin Lakes

Colorado Trail - Day 8

August 19, 2017
Camped 167.7 (22.5) 10,860'

My legs throbbed most all night but despite that I slept fairly well. I started to rise at six but I didn't get on trail until 7:20.

David Fanning was out of camp before I got up but I caught up to him resting shortly after the first big climb of the day. We hiked together off and on throughout the day. We had some good discussions; he's an interesting man.

I was making slow progress most of the day. I was just tired I suppose. The second big climb about did me in. There were ribbons all along it for the Leadville 100. I made it off the course before the race so I didn't have to deal with that.

I was hoping to do 25 today to set up for climbing Mt. Elbert tomorrow. It's the Colorado high point. I decided I'm just too tired for that so I'll do a short day into Twin Lakes and hopefully spend the night in the hostel there.

I had the second dinner Ian gave me tonight. Again it was way too much food and I'm thinking I'll have bad gas again since that spice was in this meal too. Ugh.

Entering Holy Cross Wilderness

David Fanning

David on the Trail