HIGHLIGHTS
Miles traveled: 18.7
Lift Gain/Loss: 6200/4700
Learned element: The Leadville 100 ultramarathon running race runs through Hope Pass. (I loved walking slowly; I can’t imagine executing it.)
Fauna worth mentioning: THAT
Human encounters: Wild; abi
Low: Smoke from the Ouray (Golden Mountain) wildfire hung in the air all day; Being afraid of fires all day.
High: gorgeous campsite on lake ann
TRAIL DIARY
Today we left Leadville early and arrived at Twin Lakes to begin the Collegiate West route at 5:30 am.
Our first big task of the day was to reach the top of Hope Pass, which we did at 10:30 am. The views from the pass were stunning. Both Wild and I were very excited after completing this pass because we knew there would be more beautiful 360 views/mountain passes in the coming days. There was some aggressive downhill hiking away from Hope Pass, but our legs and needs held out.
We took multiple breaks throughout the day. I ate the rest of my HIGH MOUNTAIN PIES pizza for snack and lunch. It hit the nail on the head.
The view looking south from Hope Pass
High Mountain Pies pizza for lunch; I try to get used to bringing some food from the city to eat on the first day back on the road.
We talked to every CDT hiker we saw heading north about the Willow Fire near Leadville. Fortunately, everyone was aware, but had questions about where to get on and off the trail. We did everything we could to direct them.
After descending from Hope Pass, the rest of that day’s hike seemed pretty uneventful. From time to time we looked at the clouds, wondering if they were storm clouds or smoke clouds.
The beautiful hike leading to Apostle Basin, north of Lake Ann Pass
This day we reached 200 miles walked since we left Denver!
We completed the last few miles (all uphill, of course!) of the day and ended up at a beautiful Lake Ann.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fully enjoy camping because there was a lot of smoke from the Ouray Wildfire and also ash slowly falling on our camping gear. I couldn’t help but think what would happen if the ashes turned to embers in the wind and sparked closer forest fires overnight.
Views from our Lake Ann dinner site.
Cozy to sleep in direct Alpha material.
We each had a hot dinner, stretched, and then went to bed. Our plan is to be underway by 5:30am so we can cover a lot of ground and hopefully get out of this smoke tomorrow.
See you there
Britt
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