Hike to Twin Crater Lakes, Spent two nights

New Paradise campsite just above the creek crossing. A very spacious flat of land close to water, great views.  You see the front door view in this photo  

Backdoor view.  Alpine glow up on the ridge

After dinner stroll up the trail to look for wildlife...Or see what the neighbours are doing.

Meadow of yellow.  

Female elk up on the ridge. They stood or grazed their way across the ridge as long as the alpine glow was still on them and then disappeared with the setting of the sun.

Morning breakfast

Pancakes anyone?

Setting off to a day hike up to Twin Crater lake.  It sits at the foot of the tall mountain in the background.

Somehow this photo does not capture how steep the middle ground really is.  I guess I did not notice either while hiking up it...I certainly noticed it when coming down!

finding our way to the second lake

View from our lounging spot.

A great spot to hang out and enjoy a day of "vacation".  Deep blue sky, a rock to lean against, great friends, great conversations.

Fireweed flowers growing in the rocks by the second Twin Crater Lake

One last look

Our hike today was not that long really, but it was up!  The hike was 2 hours, 3.5 miles long and 1111 feet up in elevation in the last mile...Ok, it was really the last 1.7 mile of elevation gain.  We found ourselves a perfect secret location at around 10,700 feet.  That seems to be around the right elevation to camp at due to the current low temps during the night.  We set up camp, went and retrieved some water in the dromadary's so they could lay in the sun and warm up for a good temp and shower in the woods.  

After a leisurely breakfast of pancakes, we hiked up to the lake, did some exploring, found a great little spot to just hang out and sat in the sun talking about great places to move too if/when we move to Colorado...

While we were sitting at the lake a guy hiked up to the lake and took off his shirt!  I was sure he was going to dive into the lake.  I wanted to be sure to see and hear this!  I was already imaging his shriek of shock due to the cold water.  I was disappointed that he only put his hands into the water and splashed some up on himself.  

The lakes offered some great photo ops with their vibrant flowers and perfect backdrops of the mountains.  Pat told us how when she backpacked up to Twin Crater Lakes as a younger self (before she started using hiking poles and had better knees). That trip included a scramble up to Rockhole Lake.  That little scramble looked pretty dicey.  We guessed there had been significate rock fall into the best route.  Times of our youth :)

We hiked back down to our camp, collected our nicely warmed water and each searched for that perfect secluded location in the Krumholz pine trees for a backpackers "shower".  It feels good to get a few days of hiking washed off.  

We spent the afternoon going over the maps and plan for the next days hike up over the pass.

The evening walk we found we had two neighbours with an EXTENSIVE camp.  Table, chairs, large double burner Coleman stove with propane canisters, larger tent!  Plus two Lamas.  The lamas were staked out and resting after their haul of the "gear".  This gave the three of us plenty to talk about over the next days.  We met the owners of Lama camp many times during the next few days.  From now on they will be referred to as the "Lama Girls".  

On our way back to our camp we talked about what do you do with Lamas during a thunderstorm.  Pat told us a good story of Mary Beth and a group of three others who set off on a lama hiking adventure.  The same MaryBeth from last years hike.  Their lama hike was an adventure that did not end well, as well as involved losing a lama in a deep creek crossing.  It turned out ok, but certainly an unplanned high adventure.

Off to our west, a storm was brewing.  Dark skies, thunder, lightning.  We chatted until dusk. Then hit our tents hoping for no rain.

The storm bypasses us and we spend yet another day rain free!  How lucky we are!  

Island Lake and Carey Lake

After finding frost on the bear food cans and tent fly the air warmed up quickly and we found a cup of coffee went a good distance to get the body warmed up.  We packed up and made our way 3.29 miles and 1596 feet in elevation to find a nice campsite that looked a lot like paradise.  Our packs were pretty heavy yet, so we are in no hurry today. When going uphill with a heavy pack we employ the step and lock method of going up in elevation.  This helps keep your heart rate down and energy level up.  The step and lock: take a step and fully extend your knee so you are standing, rather than bent knee muscling it up.

Looking up at the saddle between twin Crater lakes and Carey Lake.  Carey Lake is at the bottom of the dip.

Island lake to the right

Island lake to the left

While hiking slow and steady we were passed by a guy who was on a day hike.  We heard him coming from a long way away!  He had music pumping out of his backpack.  Not sure why you need music pumping when you are in the middle of nature?  When looking for a place to camp you need to consider flat area near water.  We had studied the topo map before leaving this morning so we had a good idea on when to start looking for a spot.  We camped close to a creek on some very nice flat ground.  We were walking along the trail with the creek on the left and trees on the right.  A small doorway opened up in the trees and on the right side was a beautiful flat area.  Perfect for two tents and a separate kitchen area.  We arrived around 1 pm and snacked on our lunch while setting up camp.

Pat's tent requires her to use her poles to stand it up.  This means that when hiking after setting up her tent she needs to do so without the aide of hiking poles.  At around 2 pm we started up to the trail to go up to Island Lake and Carey Lake.  Pat found herself some nice hiking "branches" to use as poles.  About halfway up the climb to the lake, Pat stopped and said Kathi and I should continue on as she was not having the kind of fun that she should be having.  Her five-hour window of hiking had been reached, and it was time for her to tap out.  So we stopped to talk about this.  The hiking rule is you do not break up your group.  You stay together.  Kathi and I reminded Pat that we knew the rule and would be willing to turn around and go back down.  Pat laughed and said she was not testing us, she was capable to head back down and we were capable to continue to head up to the lakes.  After double and triple checking that Pat was not testing us, we parted ways and continued to climb up to the lakes.

When we arrived at the top we were standing above Carey Lake, Island Lake was up over a rise.  On the map, it appeared that the trail leads to Island Lake, but there was no trail, just an assumption of where the lake could possibly be.  Good news is we saw the "backpack singing" man come up over the rise leaving where we thought we should head. So we headed to that area.  Island Lake has a big pile of rocks in the middle of the lake.  the far shoreline looks like if you would hike over there the late would be right at eye level.   Hmm would have made for a great photo, but we did not hike around the lake to see.  We sat and had a little lunch and then started heading back.  It was getting late and we needed to hike back down to make dinner.

The hike down was much steeper than I remember hiking up.  BUT then Kathi and I prefer hiking uphill as it is easier on my knees.  Pat said her knees feel better hiking down.

We found Pat waiting for us by a Blue Lake trail junction.  Our camp was just up and around the bend.  We ate supper and planned our next day, read the topo's and told stories.  During our chat time, a doe deer came wandering through our camp snacking on the grass.  She did not seem bothered by our tents being on her dinner plate! By dusk, we were tucked into our tents.  We camped around the 10,700-foot level because we were worried about camping too high due to the chilly temps the night before.  During the dead of the night, my eyes flew open as I heard a "noise" that woke me up !!!  click here to hear the sound...  I laid there and tried to think what it could be...It could be a deer, elk or moose.  Sounds smallish.  Of course, it is in the middle of the night and everything sounds BIG...Really BIG!!  It sounds as if whatever it is, is walking back and forth on the trail just in front of our area.  Kathi is sleeping through it and I do not hear that Pat is moving.  Perhaps it is a deer or elk.  I try falling back to sleep and keep thinking of things like...What should I do if I hear a bear in camp?  What should I do if I think a bear is outside of the tent?  These are thoughts that make you think you should know the answer to immediately!!!  The sound returns for a second go round.  Kathi is still sleeping and no rustling from Pat's tent.  I think either Pat is laying with her eyes wide open or sound asleep like Kathi. I will try to wait for answers to my questions until morning.  I have to go to the bathroom, but have decided that I will wait until morning light!  No need to unzip the safety net of my thin walled tent.

Morning finally dawns and I can't wait to ask Pat if she heard that "noise"?  She said yes!  She felt it was a fawn, baby elk, or baby moose looking for it's mother.  A fawn does not sound too imposing does it...  I thought it sounded bigger!!!  It really sounded just like the youtube video I attached.  We laugh and then wonder how Kathi might have slept through it all.  I brought up my list of "bear what if's"  we decided that if the sound was "bear-like" we are supposed to get up and out of the tent, stand together and make a BIG noise.  (I decided that I do not need to camp where there are Grizzly!  A black bear seemed closer to my "limit".

Oh yes, frost on the Bear cans and tent again this morning.

We pack up and head for our next destination.  Twin Crater Lakes.

Wild flowers!

Camp looking out towards where the sound came from...look out to the other side of the trees behind the gray tent.

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paradise

Living the dream

Sitting at the trail crossroads before heading up to twin lakes

sweaty 

munching her way through

2018 New RAWAH Wilderness Colorado Adventure Begins

Welcome back all!!  So much has happened since my last entry.  Upon getting back from our last adventure in 2017 I was soooo swamped with work that I neglected to post our hike on three sections of the Colorado Trail.  No worries I retired from my job in June and now ready to get the blog back to the care and nurturing that we have enjoyed.

Now off on our first adventure.  Kathi and I headed to the airport and pulled into the parking spot at 3:30 am.  On the plane by 5:30, on the ground in Colorado by 7 am, sitting in Pat's car by 7:15.  We arrive at Pat and Wendy's new home by 7:30.  Un-statch everything we had to put in suitcases and make the final packing of our backpacks.  We loaded up the packs, stashed them in the car, and hit the road.  the drive to the trailhead was 3.5 hour drive from Denver.  We hit the trail at 3 pm.  Perhaps not the best idea to start hiking in Colorado so late in the day due to sudden storms.  We cut a fast pace up the 1109 foot elevation gain and put a quick 3.7 miles on our way back towards our first set of lakes.  The conventional wisdom of figuring out how long this should take is for every 1000 foot of elevation add one hour, add your walking pace of around a mile every 40 + minutes of trail hiking to arrive at your estimated travel time.  We were really moving!   Pat set the pace for us, and at times, I thought man, we are running up this trail!  I was huffing and puffing but enjoying every step.  Pat later fessed up that she was sure it was going to rain, and wanted to have camp set up before it started.  Good news is that it remained blue sky until dark.  If you might recall from our other trips to Colorado, Kathi and I have a magical way of producing a summer phenomenon called the "Monsoon rains".  (Sudden afternoon rain/hail storms.)

As we tucked into our tents at dusk, I wrote in my notes: early morning, fast flight, long drive, fast hike, wonderful smells, so much to look at, fast camp set up, our new recipe of dehydrated chile for supper...living the dream!  Hope to sleep well!  All so worth the effort. The bad news is it was a chilly night and we woke up to frost.  We were warm enough in our sleeping bags, but I had my sleeping bag hood cinched up tight up and over my head. Where is that hot flash when you need it?


Once the light of the morning broke, it warmed up quickly!  Happy to have that first cup of coffee:)

Pat is buckling down her pack named Oscar.  Secretly, I think Oscar must come in at 50 pounds.  Pat has some new dinner items packed, and I think they have added to the overall weight.  Kathi checks over her pack named Jade (47lbs).

The telltale sign that the pack is packed correctly is...will it stand by itself? My pack, which I have named Lucy, is standing and ready to go.  With water, she weighs in at 47 pounds!

Headed back towards the Mt in the diastance and then turn right, for many more breathtaking miles.

Pronounced Ray Whaa.  I'm adding to my collection of photos of the "wilderness" areas in the US.

 Within two hours of our starting time, we were making a river crossing to our first night of camping.  Here Kathi took the high road.  Pat and I walked through the creek, with the hope that the waterproofing and height of on our boots were in good order.

 I forgot to get a picture of our tents set up for the night.  This is us trying to tear down camp and make everything go back into the packs.