Days of Lakes and Thunder

View of Turquoise Lake at Molly Brown Campground

Afternoon thunderstorm approaching Turquoise Lake

David and I have always been “mountain people.”  Beaches are fun for a few days, lakes are nice but mountains and rivers hold our hearts.  However, if a pristine mountain lake is added to those mountains and rivers, well, who are we to complain?  And that’s exactly what we’ve had this last week. 

David and friends Dustin and Melissa enjoying the lake with Maya and Rocky

First, we stayed at Turquoise Lake near Leadville for 4 nights.  We arrived on Sunday and felt extremely lucky to get a camping spot at a forest campground on Turquoise Lake called Molly Brown.  This is high tourist season in Colorado and we have found that our usual approach of not planning very far in advance may not serve well, especially on weekends.  Floaters, fishers, hikers, climbers, cyclists and campers are out in force and we are thinking reservations may be in order on weekends.

Maya takes her own lake stroll

Afternoon thunderstorms clear in time for some nice sunsets

Our friends from Texas, Dustin and Melissa and their dog Rocky, met us and they too snagged a place on Turquoise Lake just a few campsites from ours.  We had a grand time enjoying the lake, cooking out and eating great food.  Every day we took a hike and each hike rewarded us with another lake or two to see as well.  Every afternoon there were thunderstorms, some of them with heavy rain.  Usually, the skies were clearing in time for dinner and evenings on the lake were fantastic.  One night Dustin and Melissa took us out to eat at a very nice Leadville restaurant called, Treeline, to celebrate my birthday.  What a great birthday week!

Rocky and Melissa enjoying Timberline Lake on one of our hikes

We couldn't take Maya on our longer hikes, but Rocky kept us company.

Beautiful Windsor Lake -- a steep hike but well worth it!

Tall chiming bells on the Colorado Midland Trail -- a mountain railroad trail

On Thursday, we moved on to Twin Lakes near Colorado Hwy 82 (also known as the Independence Pass road, which is the highest paved pass in the continental United States).  While we thought Turquoise Lake was more picturesque, Twin Lakes were clear and beautiful, just a bit more out in the open.  We didn’t get a campsite on the lakes and didn’t really care as those few spots were very sunny with no trees at all nearby.  The lake view campsites up in the forest would have been nice, but they were all full for the weekend and we would have only been able to stay one night and then would have had to move.  Instead we drove a little past the lake and found a beautiful spot on the Roaring Forks River which feeds into Twin Lakes.  This worked out well as there was plenty of shade for Maya so we could take hikes in the mornings.

A still morning on Twin Lakes

Twin Lakes were so still and gorgeous for our walk with Maya

We all had such a great time

One morning we felt very ambitious and decided to give the nearby Black Cloud Trail a go.  If we had followed the trail all the way, we would have been on top of the highest mountain in Colorado, Mt. Elbert at 14,433 ft.  We never really intended to summit because of the time it would take and the afternoon thunderstorms.  It was more of a ‘scouting trip’ just to see if we might want to climb a “14er.”  As anticipated, the morning was clear and sunny but by 11:00 the clouds were already building.  We were surprised and pleased with ourselves that we climbed nearly 2,000 feet in under 2 hours.  Only a little less than 3,000 more to go!   I suspect that every 1,000 feet more would get slower and slower and harder and harder.  The thinner air and exertion would have taken its toll.  We made it back for lunch with Maya and were not too worse for the wear.  Maybe another time, we will conquer a “14er.”

A view of Mt. Elbert reflected in Twin Lakes

We didn't get a picture on the trail as the summit

wasn't visible for most of the climb.

The next day we took Maya and hiked for a couple of miles around Twin Lakes on the Colorado Trail which was also a shared trail at this point with the Continental Divide Trail.  This lovely rolling walk was a nice counterpoint to the previous day’s climb and it was so good to have Maya with us.  We miss her on the trails but we take her on easy ones whenever we can.

We are back in Leadville for a quick recharging and grocery shopping.  The Internet is so slow this morning, so I am not posting all the photos I wanted to show.  I'll try another time.  We are going through Independence Pass to a campground near Aspen in a few minutes.  Wish us luck.  Nothing over 35 feet can go through the pass and we will have to drive Silver and the CRV separately to make it.  I have every confidence that Silver can do it, but I’m glad David will be driving her and Maya and I will be following.

Maya makes friends everywhere

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked  5

  
Total Miles Hiked     21.77
Ave. Miles per Day      4.35
Total Elevation Gain     4,616
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  923

Happy Trails...

Continental Divide Trail at top of Cottonwood Pass

View looking northwest from top of Cottonwood Pass

Picture taken at same place David and Maya are standing

in top photo but looking west.

West of downtown Buena Vista, Cottonwood Canyon climbs to the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) at the top of Cottonwood Pass.  This beautiful canyon borders the Collegiate Peak Wilderness, home to eight “14ers” or peaks over 14,000 feet in elevation.  In addition, the Colorado Trail, CDT, Mt. Yale Trail (a 14er) and several other trails can be accessed in Cottonwood Canyon.  Just our kind of place and only a few miles away, so off we went.

Entering the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness from the CDT at Cottonwood Pass

We camped 5 days at Collegiate Peak Campground and had 4 fantastic hikes!  Our first hike was the Denny Creek Trail which went into the wilderness.  After a little over a mile, one branch of the trail headed for Hartenstein Lake and Brown’s Pass eventually joining with the CDT. Another branch made the climb to the top of Mt. Yale. 

Indian Paintbrush and Blacktip Senecio growing beside the Denny Creek Trail

Since it was our first day of climbing over 11,000 feet and we didn’t want to leave Maya all day, we opted for the lake rather than the 14,196 ft. Mt. Yale. We knew we could make the lake and back in three or so hours, but were pretty sure it would take us all day to climb Mt. Yale (if we even could).  Also, the summer rains seemed to have arrived as afternoon thunderstorms were predicted for the whole week.  Getting caught on the top of a 14er during a thunderstorm would not have been our idea of fun. 

Yellow Paintbrush on alpine slope

We had a nice hike and arrived back at camp about an hour before the thunderstorm hit.  I talked to a guy and 2 girls camped near us that had just barely gotten down from Mt. Yale before the rain started.  It took them 8 hours round trip – 5 hours up and 3 down.  It was the girls’ first 14er and they were happy to have made it.  But they weren’t planning another one any time soon.

One of the beautiful alpine lakes on the trail to Ptarmigan Lake

This one wasn't named on our map.

It rained off and on all afternoon, but we managed to get in a little birding with Maya before dinner.  Our campsite was next to a creek and wetland area, so this made for great birding.  I have never seen so many Wilson’s warblers in one place.  (For those who don’t know them, they are bright yellow birds with a black head that looks like they have a flat top.)  The trees were full of them, like American Goldfinches are in Texas in the summer.

Descending into the basin from the South Texas Creek Trail

Collegiate Peaks in the distance

The next morning on our way back from the bathroom, David, Maya and I saw a young male moose wandering through the campground about 10 yards away.  I’ve never seen one so close!  And of course, I didn’t have my camera with me.  Lesson:  Don’t even go to the bathroom without a camera.  You just never know…

Alpine daisies only grow about 3 or 4 inches high above timberline

I'd never seen paintbrush this color before -- so subtle

So, this became our pattern for the week.  Early morning walks with Maya (carrying our camera now), then David and I off to a trail for a 3 to 4-hour hike, afternoon rains and reading, evening birding and of course, meals in between.  I’ll let the pictures tell the stories of the rest of our hikes, but in brief, we hiked twice on the CDT from the summit of Cottonwood Pass at 12,126 feet. First, we went north on the South Texas Creek section of the CDT, entering the Collegiate Peak Wilderness again.  This trail descended into a lovely alpine basin with thousands of tiny wildflowers. 

Another one of those gorgeous lakes!

Most of our hikes were cloudy and we were lucky to get down before the rains started.

Two days later we hiked the southbound section of the CDT from Cottonwood Pass. This section was all above timberline and once we reached about 12,400 feet we lost the trail in the snow.  David got off the snow field and scrambled up a rocky slope.  He found the trail but it was going to be tough to follow in all the snow so we decided to come back down.

It almost looks like David is skiing, but that is the CDT

It was steep and still very snowy, so we turned back.

In between these two CDT hikes, we made a beautiful hike to Ptarmigan Lake. The trail was on a north facing slope, so it was a much wetter forest and reminded us of hikes in Oregon and Washington in the temperate rain forests. The last mile or so was mostly above timberline as was Ptarmigan Lake.  We saw one pika (small hare like animals with rounded ears and no tail that are found near timberline on rocky slopes) and heard others on the talus slopes of the higher mountains.

Ptarmigan Lake

We are getting acclimated to the higher elevations finally.  The last hike of the week was much easier than the first and I'm not gasping for breath anymore after a steady climb.  The rains have washed Silver and our CRV mostly clean of the dust accumulations.  Even Maya has been 'rain rinsed' a time or two.  All is well...

The Ptarmigan Lake Trail was so wet -- moss was abundant.

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked  4

Rain Days  5 - afternoon rains      
Total Miles Hiked   19.09
Ave. Miles per Day      4.77
Total Elevation Gain     4,369
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  1,092

There could still be avalanches up on the high ridges, although small ones

With the summer rains starting, the clouds were amazing

Back in the Saddle...

Chalk Creek near the Colorado Trail

The Colorado Trail runs from Denver to Durango.

With Silver all serviced and brand new house batteries, we said goodbye to Denver (for an hour or more – the Denver metroplex is huge!) and headed back to the forest to spend the Fourth of July away from the crowds.  We found a great camping spot at Buffalo Springs Campground in the Pike National Forest.  This was a place we had scouted a week ago when we were in the area and it turned out to be perfect for us.  There were only five other campsites occupied and since there was a fire ban in place because of dry weather, no fireworks.  We talked to some of the children campers and they were disappointed that they couldn’t have a campfire but marshmallows were roasted over camp stoves and they were almost as good.  All in all, it was a peaceful and quiet holiday, if a bit on the dusty side.  The summer rains will be welcome when they come.

Crossing a creek in the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness

It was a bit dusty -- both the campground and the roads in the Buffalo Peaks.

We took Maya into the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness the next day for a hike.  She has been doing really well and we planned to go slow and turn back when she got tired.  The trail was mostly downhill in the beginning which made it easy but meant we had to consider that Maya would have to climb back out.  We stopped for a picnic and rested about an hour and then walked a little more before turning back.  We took our time climbing out and Maya made it fine.  It turned out that we hiked almost 4 miles, the most Maya has done on this trip.  We rewarded her with a big dinner and an early bedtime.

Sego Lily

A 'Rose Pine' 

This wild rose was climbing up a pine tree.

We didn't see any moose, but lots of 'moose sign' in the wilderness.

(Thought you might be tired of flower pictures...)

The next day we moved on to Cascade Campground in the San Isabel National Forest south of Buena Vista.  This campground was in a beautiful canyon cut by Chalk Creek.  Some of Colorado’s ‘Fourteeners’ (peaks over 14,000 feet) are located here, Mt. Princeton, being one of the better known.  The Colorado Trail also runs through this canyon. 

The Chalk Cliffs, which give this area its name,  are not really chalk but kaolinite

'Mountain Mask"

This formation in the Chalk Cliffs looks like a snowy owl

We didn’t try to climb Mt. Princeton, but we did hike a few miles on the Colorado Trail one morning while Maya took a day off.  The section we hiked was very steep and we were worn out after that little climb.  Maya went on two short hikes with us, one around Chalk Lake and one on the Agnes Vaille Falls Trail. 

On the Agnes Vaille Falls Trail

Chalk Lake

We also visited the ghost town of St. Elmo near the end of the canyon.  St. Elmo is an abandoned mining town that is being restored and people have turned some of the old town structures into summer residences.  About the only thing we didn’t do in Chalk Canyon was soak in the hot springs but there will be other opportunities to visit hot springs later – Colorado is full of them.

St. Elmo

One of the attractions of St. Elmo -- the extremely tame chipmunks

(At least until the plague breaks out...)

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked   3

Total Miles Hiked    8.78
Ave. Miles per Day      2.93
Total Elevation Gain     1,668
Ave. Elevation Gain per day    556 

A beautiful girl, our Maya

Dead trees near one end of Chalk Lake

Another view of Chalk Lake

A Park, Lakes and Bristlecone Pines

Monarch Park with the South Arkansas River meandering through it

We made plans a few weeks back to get the RV serviced and spend the long Fourth of July weekend in the Denver area.  Since we had 5 days before our RV appointment and most of the middle of the state yet to cover, we decided on a quick scouting trip on our way to Denver with plans to return after the holiday.

From Taylor Canyon, we back-tracked to Gunnison and traveled US Hwy 50 over the Continental Divide winding through Monarch Pass at 11,312 feet.  About 1,000 feet below the pass was Monarch Park, a small campground on the edge of a big meadow in the San Isabel National Forest.  This was the highest elevation we had camped so far this summer and the nights were cold – in the 30’s.   

Maya snuggles with David as he eats his steel cut oats.

It was a very cold morning in our RV.

Maya likes oats too!

We spent a lovely two days at Monarch Park strolling in the meadow with Maya in the early mornings and late afternoons.  The South Arkansas River cut through the meadow and was dammed in several places both naturally and by beavers, creating a lot of fishing holes.  Several campers were actually catching fish although most were too small to keep.

The South Arkansas River along the Waterdog Lakes Trail

Our second day we took the nearby trail to Waterdog Lakes.  The lakes were over 11,000 feet and the trail climbed steeply in many places.  Before we reached the top, we were huffing and puffing and as we reached the lake there was a huge snow bank of 20 or more feet to climb before descending to the first of the Waterdog Lakes.

David makes it to the top of the snow bank near Waterdog Lakes

The lake was not icy but a lot of snow was still surrounded it.  Because of this, we didn’t continue our hike on to the second lake. Instead, we wandered around some and then took our time slipping and sliding down the snow bank – David managed nicely but I was not so graceful and had a thoroughly wet bum.  Maya was very glad to see us back at the RV and we made it just in time for a nice afternoon thunderstorm.   What a lovely end to our stay in Monarch Park!

The first of the two Waterdog Lakes

The next morning, we headed towards Salida to visit the district ranger station and get information on more places to visit and stay in the Pike-San Isabel National Forest.  The forest ranger was extremely helpful and even recommended a good place for lunch.  As we ate, we had fun recalling a time about 8 years ago when we stayed in Salida and did some rafting down the Arkansas River.  The river is really running high right now (and cold), so we won’t do it again this year.  We wished the many helmeted, wet suit and life jacket wearing river-runners on the Arkansas a good float and a safe trip. 

Flowers in the forest

Since we had been in forest campgrounds for 6 days, we were running low on fresh water and decided to seek a commercial RV park for the night.  We drove north from Salida on US 285 for about an hour to Fairplay, where we visited a different district ranger station to learn more about this part of the forest.  We found a small motel that also had RV camping and we settled in for the night.

Reading the forest information over a very good breakfast at the Brown Burro Cafe in small downtown Fairplay, we learned about the mining and railroad history in the area.  Maps showed us many 4WD roads into the national forest leading to ghost towns and old mining communities.  Even though we weren’t thrilled with our campground, we decided to stay for another night as we did want to do some exploring.

Large Colorado bristlecone pine

Most likely around 800 years old

One of our explorations was to the highest incorporated town in the continental United States, Alma, and the nearby Windy Ridge Bristlecone Pine Scenic Area.  Both David and I have a thing for bristlecone pines (some of the oldest living trees on earth) and as readers of this blog may remember, we have visited the Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of California on the western edge of the Great Basin Desert. 

Last year we saw a very small stand of the Rocky Mountain variety of bristlecones (a.k.a. Colorado bristlecone or Pinus aristata) near Wheeler Peak in northern New Mexico.  Around Fairplay, this Colorado species of bristlecone pine is common.  These trees had been planted all around town and were mixed in with other conifers and aspens in the surrounding forest.

Remains of old mining equipment near Windy Ridge

We turned off from Alma and drove about 6 miles on a rocky, very bumpy and almost 4WD road to the Windy Ridge Bristlecone Pine Scenic Area.   Some large specimen trees were widely spaced throughout the area with younger, almost pure stands of bristlecone pines scattered along the mountain sides.  Though the Colorado species of bristlecone pine typically lives to around 2,500 years (as opposed to the almost 5,000 years that specimens of Intermountain or Great Basin bristlecone pine in California, Nevada and Utah live) most of the specimens on Windy Ridge were less than 1,000 years old.  Even so, it was very cool to see so many of these very old trees thriving on the mountain sides.

Some of the older bristlecone pine trunks

We also drove to a campground near the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness and plans were made to come back and spend some time there as well as the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness near Salida and Buena Vista.  But the past few days we have been busy in the Denver area getting an oil change, tire rotation and general service for Silver's Sprinter chassis plus other chores and some sightseeing. 

There has been a hitch in our plans as Silver has a ‘house’ battery or batteries going out (one was very hot and smoking – not good and both batteries have now been disconnected).  Since the service we had done was for the Sprinter chassis only, we had to find another place to fix the battery issue.  And since this is the Fourth of July weekend and most RV service places are closed, there aren’t many options.  Fortunately, David found a mobile RV repair guy who came out this evening and put in new batteries.  All is well and we will be back in the forest tomorrow for the actual holiday.  Yay!  Not our most fun Fourth of July weekend, but what can you do?  As great as life is on the road, there are still some days that crap happens…  But we will be celebrating in the forest tomorrow.

A Happy July 4^th to everyone! 

Sorry, but you are going to have to endure Columbine pictures from time to time.

They are just so beautiful -- I can't resist photographing them...

And these remind me of fireworks for July 4th

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked  2

Total Miles Hiked    5.75
Ave. Miles per Day      2.88
Total Elevation Gain     1,411
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  706