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!