Howdy all! We're coming to you from the beautiful town of Lake City, Colorado! It's been quite a day.

We left Salida, CO this morning, headed north. The Trail takes you around 12 miles north before turning west and moving into the mountains at a little resort called Mt. Princeton Hot Springs. The Hot Springs seemed to be an interesting place. There are two pools about half the size of an Oylmpic size pool. When we passed, the temperature must've been around 45 degrees, and there were many people in the pools. I'm assuming they must be heated by the hot springs.

As we moved west, the elevation began to to increase rapidly. We paralleled a creek flowing from the mountains until

the elevation was above 10,000 feet and we had arrived at the quaint former mining community of St. Elmo. The people who lived in that area must have been the toughest people to ever live. The temperature while we were in town was around 40 degrees.

The road(or should I say trail?) turned south after St. Elmo, and began to climb quickly. Soon we were approaching the 11,000 foot mark.

Our first major objective was crossing Hancock Pass, around 12,000 feet. We passed the sign for Hancock Pass and the road became very rocky and narrow.

As we ascended, we could look up towards the pass and see the snow become more abundant. In several places there was ice in the trail.

At 11,500 feet we rounded a corner in the trail and were faced with a snow bank across the trail. The snow was probably 30 yards wide. We had no method for removing snow. (I didn't really want to lug a shovel on this trip!) So, after much discussion, my better half(namely, Meredith) persuaded me that we needed more people around if we were to try to cross the snow.

 

Unfortunately, if the route was blocked, there is no way to go but back the way we came. So, that's what we did.

We had to retrace our route back through St. Elmo and on to Salida.

After a quick lunch, we were back on an alternate route to find the Trail.

We soon found ourselves climbing again. Luckily Marshall Pass topped out at 11,000 feet. So we were able to move through.

The scenery was no less spectacular though. High alpine ecosystems became the order of the day. Green hillsides with Aspen groves were to be around until we

arrived in Lake City.

Lake City is an interesting town. It was established in 1876 as a mining town, but, like most Colorado towns, has taken up the "old mining town, but now we cater to people who want to feel like they are in a charming old mining town", personae.

Colorado has been packed with people doing the summer vacation thing. Finding motel rooms has been a challenge since we arrived in the state. Maybe it will get easier once we leave.

We plan on being in Utah tomorrow. See you down the trail.

 

Daily Mileage: 200

Total Mileage: 2558

Money Spent: $130.32

June 18