Day 21 Twin Lakes Village to Clear Creek

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Mileage: 16 miles....longest day yet! (Completed Segment 11)

Elevation: 9,500 ft to 9,800 to 8,900 ft

Half Pops. Washington's best invention and export that we thankfully learned about while reading Backpacker's magazine. We bought two bulk boxes without even trying it and shipped it to Pippy's address. They're delicious and a savoir from eating BARS!! They come in two flavors: cheesy cheddar and buttery butter. It's also a great alternative from sweet BARS as the flavors are both salty. And addicting. The name describes  exactly how they are made: popcorn kernels that are half-popped and full of crunchy goodness. Buy it- you'll never turn back. 

Our day started out by "borrowing" the Wifi internet from the neighboring hotel of our rural cabin accomodation and waiting 25 mins for our blogs to upload. Finally, they went through and we began our mile long walk along the main highway to our trailhead (which ended up following the highway for 4 more miles). 

It wasn't just a boring highway walk. We were surrounded by amazing beauty. 

Pippy trekking full-speed ahead. Notice there are no cars to pick us up. And the ones we did see were either two-seater sports cars heading to Aspen or beat-up and revved-up ford pick-up trucks with local hicks whistling at us. Zippy made the "dontlookatmydaughterstare" and they kept going. 

Our next destination is Buena Vista, which takes 3-4 days of hiking over mountain passes and eating like cavemen to get there. If we only had a car....we'd be there in 30 mins!

Finally, we depart the asphalt and rejoin are nice, single track trail. 

It seems so peaceful, but just to the right of this sign is the main highway. 

We followed the desert, flat, and boring trail which circumnavigated almost the entire lake and we ended up turning off of it right where Pippy's hat is in the photo. Next time, were bringing our ultra-light stand-up paddle boards and paddling across the lake from town to the trail. We definitely would've shaved off 3 hours and 6 miles. 

But, we took advantage of our flat, no elevation climb and stopped to enjoy the view and flowers. 

 

At the end of the lake, there was a dam which our trail book instructed us to go over. Both the book and the dam dam had warning signs NOT to stop at Any time while crossing the dam. 

Pippy demonstrated the no crossing sign.

Once across the bridge, we sat down for a snack. This humming bird fluttered around us for a few minutes . Zippy was able to capture these photos.  So very cool!

Look closely in the photo below, on the right side of Pippy's shoulder is the humming bird .

As we entered the trail heading up the hill ( it's always either up or down ), the views become apparent.

We climbed higher and higher..

The flowers are abundant and never ending .

And then just when you start to sing "the hills are alive.."...you hear thunder that jolts you off of the ground. 

With thunder often comes lightening. We saw a flash and we ditched our packs. Separated our selves twenty feet apart and crouched down closest to the ground with our hands over our ears, head down until it pased over. Super scary. A few weeks ago a couple was struck by lightening and one was killed, so we take this serious.

After our second grueling climb of the day, the trees opened up into this meadow and big smiles returned to our faces. 

Yay! We made it!....almost. First, we had to descend this long, knee-buckling, switchback hill into the valley. We found a perfect campsite along the river, 10 hours after first starting the trail this morning. We wanted to just relax, soak our feet on the river, and gaze at the view, but nooooo. It was Mosquito ville again! So, we put up our tent, ate our dinner, and nodded off to sleep.

See everybody in the morning!