Leg 6: Twin Lakes to Buena Vista

Stats:
Distance: 6 legs, 12 segments, 30 days, 216 miles
Best food: mini Starbursts, tutti fruiti chips
Wildlife sightings: a turkey family and a little snakey

Day 25:

We gave ourselves a treat (or more accurately, Nana and Baba did): a slack pack day! We left our backpacks in our cabin, grabbed a few water bottles and a lunch, and just hiked free!

The next trailhead out of Twin Lakes was a perfect distance (8 miles) and easily accessible by our amazing sag wagon.

Walking next to the lake was lovely and flat (if a little tempting for just jumping in!). The climb up the ridge was honestly fairly boring. But then we came down into a sage brush and aspen wonderland and perked right back up again!

And boy did it feel nice to have so much weight lifted off our shoulders (thank you Bill for carrying out meager supplies). Not to mention coming back to a shower, burgers, and a comfortable bed at the end. We might have to look for more of these opportunities….

Day 26:

2600 ft of elevation gain ain’t nothing! But at least it was over 4 miles, and our goal for the day was just past 6. We hit a solid mile per hour, which put us at the high point for a victory lunch.

Down the couple of miles to the river was no big thing, and we were set up (nicely separate from everyone else sharing a tiny campsite) by 3:00. We were in a beautiful little valley, with the forest sloping away, purple peaks towering above, and beaver dams sprinkling the river as it meandered through a green carpet.

Tessa and I decided to take advantage of the beavers’ bathtub construction and took a chilly dip. We did feel cleaner! We let the breeze dry us on shore, watching fish flip and jump and flop for insects.

We watched the sun sink while we scarfed dinner and retired to the tent to relax our legs before the next climb.

Day 27:

We started the morning climbing back up to our the same elevation as our high point yesterday. Didn’t we just do this?

But just before we hit 11,800 ft, we hit a major milestone!

We made sure we stayed there long enough to brag to a few people passing by.

The rest of the day, we wandered through the trees, occasionally breaking out for a grand vista. Unfortunately, there was so much smoke in the air today (we could even smell it), we really couldn’t see far. We were left wondering, will we ever get above tree line and be able to enjoy a view?

12 miles from that morning’s camp, we found a cozy little pocket spot just above Silver Creek, made ourselves a juicy dinner, and fell into bed.

Day 28:

Okay, so I promise I’ll stop complaining about hills. After I do it one more time.

This was a steep hill! For awhile, we were averaging half a mile an hour. Which wasn’t an encouraging pace. But we did eventually make it to the top.

And then we screamed down all those thousands of feet we had just worked so hard to gain.

We were rewarded at the bottom by a pickup from Nana and Baba and Aunt Annalise, and a scenic drive into Buena Vista.

Day 29-30:

BV is such a cool little town. Parks, shops, ice cream, good restaurants, a hotel pool, and cartoons on the TV. Zero day, thanks for the recovery time!