Long night. Camped next to the parking area for the Mt. Elbert trail head – a 14er. People started heading up the mountain at 2 am!!! I discovered on my way out this morning that there was a beautiful camping spot not a 1/4 mile up the trail where I would have missed all the cars pulling into the parking lot all night (24 when I left this morning) and the flashlights on the tent. Grrrr. Guidebook failure.

About 2 miles into today’s hike I sat down on a ridge to eat breakfast and watch all the day hikers go past. And who should come walking down the trail but Michael – one of the guys I met at the Leadville Hostel and hike Mt. Belford with. We chatted and he continued on at breakneck speed that I couldn’t keep up with wearing a pack.

Made it into Twin Lakes for my resupply mail drop by 11 am. Was not impressed with the place – not exactly the most hiker friendly. Of course I only really met 1 person – a crotchety old woman that runs the little general store and post office in town. I was apparently her biggest nuisance in life. If I had known any better I would have skipped the resupply here and hitched back into Leadville again.

Left Twin Lakes (the only place on the hike that I couldn’t get a hitch into or out of town) and spent the rest of the day hiking around the Twin Lakes – the 2 lakes the town is named for. Six miles in the hot sun with no shade and no water because you can’t get to the lake without crossing “forbidden” land. Once on the other side of the lake we stopped at a campground and took a dip in the lake….fully clothed. Everything dried within 15 minutes – that’s how hot and dry it was there.

Snagged an amazing camp site for the night – looking over the lake just before the trail heads back up into the mountains again.