Hiking the Colorado Trail Segments 10 and 11: Day 1

October 5 - 8, 2012: Segments 10 and 11

Day 1

Our schedules are always packed so we set our trip date for the first weekend in October months in advance.  Being the first weekend of October and Colorado, the weather can be a bit unpredictable.  The forecast was showing overnight temps in the low 20’s in the Leadville, CO and TwinLakes, CO area. With the weather not looking to promising and since our sleeping bags are both old and not built to handle such low temps, I went to REI (after doing a little research online) and bought us the Sierra Designs Zissou DriDown Sleeping Bag.

We got all of our packing done the night of the 4^th and chilled out the morning of the 5^th before starting the drive to Buena Vista, CO.  US285 South is (so far) my favorite road in Colorado.  Of course when we got to Buena Vista we stopped for a quick stretch and a double moka at Bongo Billy’s Café before heading 17 miles north to what will be our hike finish, the Clear Creek Reservoir.  The plan was to drop a car at the end of Segment 11 and then drive North to the start of Segment 10.

We got to the Segment 10 start West of Leadville, CO, on the West side of Turquoise Lake, around 12:30pm and hit the trail.  The trail is well marked with these little placards.  And it’s surprisingly reassuring to see them when you are in doubt.

Our first campsite was about 6 miles in (see map) amongst a bunch of large boulders and near a small stream.  After checking out the area, getting water, and chilling a bit, we made dinner.  With the light fading, the temp started to drop, so up went the bear bag and we headed indoor to play cards for a while.  Feeling like old men, we were asleep by 8:30 P.M.