Day 51: 14 Miles
We got up early to get over Hope Pass and down into Twin Lakes. It’s a tiny town, but they have a gas station and a food truck for us hikers to resupply and eat some good food. Our favorite thing about the town was the dummy police officer parked in the middle of town, scaring the motorists into slowing down.
We hung out in town for about 5 hours and then made our way back to the trail to hike out a few more miles to camp.
Day 52: 28 Miles
It was a beautiful day today with some awesome views. The climbing was a little less intense, since we stayed under 12,000 feet all day and mostly under the treeline.
We saw a lot of people today, because we are hiking around some popular fourteeners, and because it’s Friday and people are getting out backpacking for the weekend. We’ve also run into some Colorado Trail thru hikers headed the opposite direction. It was just a nice day hiking in the woods today.
We camped just a few miles from the road to Leadville. Tomorrow we’ll meet Paul’s good friend Tim there and have a rest day at his house.
Day 53: 3 Miles
This morning we got up at the usual time and walked to where the trail crosses the road into Leadville.
We hitched a ride from an interesting guy on a journey of his own. Some people pick up hikers or hitchhikers to hear their stories, so we try and share all the interesting stories we can. Others pick us up because they want someone to talk to, and then we just listen. This guy was the second type. He dropped us off in Leadville, where we walked around a little until Tim came and picked us up and took us back to Basalt.
We had food and showers and more food. We got in some scenic drives and some mindless television too. We got laundry done and got to sleep in a real bed for the night.
Day 54: 0 Miles
We spent another day off with Tim in Basalt. Aside from visiting, we got all of our resupply chores done as well. In the afternoon we drove back to Leadville and spent the night there at his friends house. It was a great zero day.
Good day –
About that house with the intriguing facade in Basalt (?). Are the coral colored bands painted on or are they courses of building stone? There was a kind of sandstone quarried in Pennsylvania called Conestoga Pink–but it’s not as pink as this seems to be. Interesting look. The Queen Anne turret roof puts me in mind of the mansions of the mining barons and their penchant for patterned masonry.
Trust there are no aches and pains and it’s all bluebird up ahead.
That was actually in Leadville and they were painted. There were a variety of houses with the same style in different colors there.