July 8, 2013
Chillin in Leadville. This trip has been pretty sweet since we stepped off the plane in Denver. The altitude hit me on the plane ride over. I have a middle ear condition and the pressure and dry air hit me pretty good as we drove to Frisco. We got to Goldhill at 6 and started walking what would be a pretty tough intro to Colorado hiking. The weather forecast was a guessing game with it changing so much. We camped at Miners Creek, did three miles the following day and camped at 11,900 feet. It was rough and probably a bit irresponsible for us to go that extreme but we handled it well. Wak got the worst of it and became acute for 12 hours but recovered nicely. We rolled into Copper Mountain Resort and had coffee and burrrrrrritoes!!!! Wak progressively got worse. The yogi's and guru's at Wanderlust were of no help. As we headed to Guller Creek, I made an executive decision to hike back to Wheeler Flats and camp. We found a good spot and Wak got the rest she needed to acclimate. I had only one issue at about 12,000 where I got crazy dizzy and so short of breath. Once we got above treeline, it just got so beautiful that we hoofed it to the top and became elated with the open ridge walk we were rewarded with. That was the moment I became acclimated. It took us almost 3 days to walk 12.8 miles!! Ain't no joke! Yesterday we drive down to Leadville and got back on at Tenneesee Pass. We should have started here but we didn't. Oh well. So we walked along Longs Gulch and entered Holy Cross Wilderness. We camped in a sweet spot with a group of CDTers. Great group. Hung out with Virgo for a bit before giving in to the bugs. We walked over some great views all morning and found our rhythm and felt acclimated. We have been out for 3 days and we feel great. Hitched into Leadville and find ourselves with the tv still off!!! We have made a pact to not review any pictures on our new camera until we get home. I'm shooting a ton of great pictures and video. I'm playing with the different settings and enjoying the walk. We are heading towards Twin Lakes and the famous General Store sometime this week. We will be making an attempt at Part of Mt Massive. I do not intend to summit but we are going to make a legitimate attempt at Elbert with it being rated as much easier than Massive. After that we may back track to the Searle and Kokomo Pass segment we skipped. I'm off to the land of PBR and packing for the next stretch of greatness in Colorado.
