Hiking With Gadget Girl
It's All About The Adventure!
We were so excited this morning as we only had a 11.5 mile day as we were being picked up by Dave for a resupply and zero day tomorrow. It was freezing cold as we immediately started hiking uphill. I hiked quickly, practically running from sunbeam to sunbeam to try get warm. The higher and further we hiked away from the river, the warmer it got. At the first high point, the trail split and most of the day hikers headed up to Mt Elbert, a 14,440 foot peak that is apparently the easiest of the 14ers. We continued along an absolutely beautiful well groomed trail and a hiker passed us with a unicycle strapped to his pack. He planned on riding it downhill. Unfortunately he was moving quickly and I was unable to snap a pic of him.
The further down we went, the warmer it became, and suddenly there was a truck parked across the trail with a bunch of other trucks and tents tightly packed in together. Humph, what nerve!
Anyway, we finally saw the Twin Lakes and at the very far end of the lake where the dam is, is where we were going to be picked up by Dave.
A nice couple stopped to chat with us and gave us some ideas for restaurants in Buena Vista. As we were visiting, who showed up on his bike was Dave! It was going take us about 2.5 hours to reach the dam and Jeep so Dave continued up the hill and then took the Twin Lakes trailhead down to the lake. Then he decides to ride around the other side of the lake, making a 17 mile ride out of it. Meanwhile, we were starting to roast from the sun and out came the umbrellas.
The wind also picked up causing havoc with the umbrellas. With 1.5 miles to go, Dave had already made it back to the truck and was wondering where we were, so he biked back to check up on us.
The thought of real food and a shower made us impatient to be finished with today's trail and we finally arrived at the Jeep. Dave asked if we wanted to stop by the RV first, but we said no, take us straight into town and let's EAT!
NOTE: If you are interested in seeing more pictures of this day, click here.