The cabin at Twin Lakes was nice, but I was ready to get out of town. There isn’t much here, and with both Wallace and Marco already on the trail I was feeling very antsy to get going. I left around 8:00 and on the way out of town I noticed the burrito van was open, so I stopped for a burrito and Diet Coke.  Twin lakes is a weird town.  It’s the smallest town yet, consisting of a general store with very little food, a burrito van, a couple of cabin lodges, and an inn/restaurant that only opens at 4:30 for dinner.  A cheeseburger costs $18.  I spent $47 for my dinner there.  The burrito van is just as good and costs far less.

I took the Ley alternate around the west side of the lakes.  This cuts off 8 miles along the east lake shore, but does require fording the river that feeds the lakes.  Fortunately it was only ankle deep.  I don’t think there are many thru hikers that take the official route around the east side.

After the lakes it’s 3500 steep feet up Hope pass. This was a beast of a climb followed by 2500 feet down the other side where the trail turns up Clear Creek to the historic mining town of Winfield. There are some restored cabins here from the late 1800’s but the trail never got close enough to see them and I wasn’t in the mood to stop and mess around. I wanted to get up and over 12,500 foot Lake Ann Pass before dark and it was already getting late.

The scenery is beautiful with all the aspen groves and changing fall colors.  After several more miles of climbing I decided I didn’t have enough time to get over Lake Ann Pass and down the other side to tree line before dark, so I stopped early and camped in some of the last trees before Lake Ann at 11,600 feet. Camping above tree line is something I try to avoid – it’s cold, windy, and the thin air makes it more difficult to sleep well.  Camping in the trees is always much warmer and I found a good spot next to a creek.

I only did 17 miles today, but since I took the shortcut I did 24 Guthooks miles which is what really counts! 🙂  The up and down stuff really wears me out. I saw several deer today in the aspen’s, which by the way are changing colors and looking beautiful. On a more ominous note, the changing leaves also mean fall is here and snow can start falling any time. Gaucho is about a half day behind me and I hope he catches up with me soon. I send him text messages periodically with what I hope are helpful tips for the sections ahead of him. Mav did that for us when he was in front and I always appreciated it.