Getting up early. I vowed to do a decent hike today. I was to hike the Lost Man Lake Loop hike to Independence Pass. It is more like a horseshoe then a loop as the final stretch is back to the car along the road. Here is a topo map of the hike
I parked my car at Lost Man Trailhead as opposed to the other way because then when I got to the road at Independence Pass it would be all downhill in case I could not thumb a ride.
A pretty straightforward hike up to a pass. I passed one group of hikers who let me know that there were plenty of hikers around dragging deer carcasses out. I was amazed that these hikers would hike 7 miles in, shoot a deer, cut it up and hike out with 150lbs of meat to their truck and then turn around and hike back in.
I eventually made the main pass with a couple Marmot sightings along the way. Not an easy traverse but not the worst I have experienced.
I continued down the backside of the pass toward the road and ran across a nice older gentleman. We talked for a bit and said he was only going another mile tops. He said if I was at the parking lot when he came back he would give me a ride to my car. When I did get back to the parking lot at Independence pass I talked to his wife for a while but opted to just start walking with my thumb out. About 20 minutes in a pickup stopped for me. It turns out that they were some of the hunters I spoke of before. The whole truck was covered in blood. Not exactly the sight you want to see when climbing into a stranger’s ride.
He was from Boulder and when I told hi I had gotten sick at “The Sink” restaurant, he said that it sounded about right. Don’t worry, I would have y revenge shortly. When we got back to my car I said goodbye to the group. I asked him why the other guys are wearing orange but he wasn’t. He said he had his limit and did not have to wear orange unless he was actually hunting. Before I was able to make reference to the obvious he said,”ya, I guess that really doesn’t make sense cause I can still got shot just as easily” He did not put the orange on but at least we were all on the same page.
I drove into Aspen, stopped at a brewery for a beer and to fill up y water jugs.
I still had some daylight so I drove West out to The Maroon Bells, which I heard had some beautiful hiking trails. I hiked around Maroon Lake and up to Crater Lake. I was not in the mood for another long accent today so I headed back to the car after a couple hours.
I made my way back Northeast and stopped for the night at Turquoise Lake. Another spot where I did not need to pay just outside of Leadville.
Until Tomorrow
Darren
