It feels so good to slow down and take it easy. That’s what summer vacations are all about. Yet, even on a 490 mile-long hike that we carefully planned to complete over a leisurely 42 days, it’s easy to get caught up in the get-up-and-go mindset that we associate with our everyday work lives back home. (more…)
Today is said to be the most beautiful section of the Collegiate West Wilderness. We will be entering Segment CW3 at Cottonwood Pass, and we will spend almost the entire day above treeline. With so many miles of exposure, it is important that we hit the trail early in case the weather turns on us in the afternoon. So, when the alarm goes off at 5 am, we don’t dawdle. (more…)
Our third day in the Collegiate West is similar in many ways to yesterday. We woke up and immediately crossed a beautiful high mountain pass as our first challenge of the day. We spent much of the day descending and hiking flat only to end it with another 1000 foot climb into camp. And, just like yesterday, we spied another moose along the way, this one a lone female grazing in the shallows of a beaver pond only 50 feet away! Lightning, so to speak, really does strike twice. (more…)
After a very enjoyable zero day in the Twin Lakes/Leadville area, with our time split between watching the World Cup Final (France beat Croatia 4–2), taking care of laundry, lunch in Leadville and celebrating Alison’s birthday, it’s time to hit the trail again and begin the Collegiate West segment ending in Salida. Thru hikers on the CT have the option of taking the original Collegiate East route or the more rugged Collegiate West route shared by thru hikers on the CDT. Some folks even string the two together to form the Collegiate Loop. We don’t have time for that, so we’ve chosen to tackle the Collegiate West, as we hear it is more scenic, and we feel up for the challenge, especially after a pleasant rest day. (more…)
I wake up in our lumpy, rogue campsite behind the Visitor Center in Twin Lakes just before 6 am to the sounds of the magpies squawking, the hummingbirds whizzing by our tent and a car pulling up on the other side of the willow bushes that separate us from the Twin Lakes Forest Service parking lot. I listen to all the sounds around us from the comfort of my cozy sleeping bag for several minutes before I remember that today is my birthday! (more…)
Last night was, hands down, our best night of sleep on the trail so far! Perhaps because, for the first time in three nights, we camped on top of the hill instead of down in the valley. The air feels warmer up here, and it is not so chilly when we come out of the tent either. (more…)
Garnet Lake to Donohue Pass to Lyell Fork Bridge, 12 miles
We wake up at 5:15 to photograph the alpenglow on Banner Peak and its reflection on Garnet Lake. As always, it’s a struggle to get out of our cozy sleeping bags, but we don’t have a lot of time to spare. Our shooting spot is only a few hundred feet away, so it would be pretty pathetic not to get there. We head out to a little rocky spit of land sticking out into the lake that gives us a beautiful view of the peak, and we are in place on time for a gorgeous sunrise. Hallelujah! (more…)
Day 20: Red’s Meadow to Garnet Lake, 14.2 miles
My new air mattress is awesome, and I sleep solidly through the night. When the alarm goes off at 5:30, it’s tempting to hit the snooze button, but we have lots of other campers around us who will surely get annoyed if I do, so it’s up and at ‘em! Our packs are a bit of a mess. Everything was torn apart yesterday with the resupply, laundry and shopping run, and we scramble to put everything back together as quickly as possible. Our goal is to be at the Mulehouse Cafe right when it opens at 7 for a hearty breakfast before getting back on the trail. (more…)
Day 17: Silver Pass Creek to Silver Pass to Duck Lake Outlet, 13.1 miles
We are camped about two miles and 1000’ below Silver Pass. We wake up early and hope to tackle the pass feeling refreshed and well rested. It’s another cold morning, so we don’t get out of camp as early as we hoped to, but we are on the trail by 7 am, and up we go! (more…)
Upper Palisade Lake to above Big Pete Meadow, 16.2 miles
We get an early start photographing this morning. Matt saw a few waterfalls up the trail on the way in last night, and he wants to shoot them before we take off this morning. The first is no problem but there are a couple of tents set up right next to the second, prettier one. It’s just after 7 in the morning, but the people are still asleep when we first come up. We are not anywhere close to them, but they start to stir while we are there, and we feel a little awkward for invading their space. Oh well… (more…)
Take A Hike Photography 