Day 70: Twin Lakes

That is where Trail Days was held at the Tabor Opera House. You know what's funny is we still use those same skis up in Alaska. I'm willing to bet the equipment hasn't changed since World War II. Alrighty folks, I just wanted to show you Leadville because I didn't do a great job of filming it beforehand, but now it is time to leave town. Oh, the mountain's got a solid dusting overnight. I'm sure all of that will be melted by this afternoon, but yeah, they have been dusted every day for like the last week or so. Since we came directly into Leadville, we're going to walk directly out. Our trailhead is somewhere there. Oh, hello folks. Okay, after 11 miles, we're back up on the CDT. Someone has fed these birds because they all just gathered around me. Okay, just popped out onto the road for the town of Twin Lakes. We've got a box with a two-day resupply there at the general store. I miscommunicated to Swiss Miss, so I had a four-day resupply in Leadville and then another two-day here. So I just carried two days out of Leadville, and I'm just going to pick the other two days up here because there will be four into Salida. So I just didn't want to carry more food than I had to, and all that excess back in Leadville made another hiker very happy. So it does not go to waste. And I'm seeing a lot of cool signs here for the restaurant. They're still like hot dogs, and look at that. They've got these cute signs. It's like grilled cheese, bacon, and what's that on the bottom? Nachos? Oh, man. That sounds so freaking good right now. I've been, I, you catch the bug eventually because I, I would... So, folks, this is the town of Twin Lakes. Initially, I was going to hike past here, another like, only like another mile or two up to the campsite, but I got stuck here pretty quick. You got the general store right here, which is incredible. They do so much for hikers in there. They've got an incredible resupply, and they hold packages, and were just extremely kind, extremely good customer service. And this place right there, let me zoom in a little bit, the Twin Lakes Inn has an all-you-can-eat buffet. I think that's what really sold me to staying here. It's breakfast buffet starting at 7 a.m. for $18, which is a steal. And after I heard that, I was like, man, I'm going to stay here. And then I actually walked down the street here in the direction that I'm moving now, which is opposite of what I just showed you, and at a place called the Tenderfoot Farm. They were serving food. It's like hot dogs and stuff. They did like a Chicago-style dog. Oh, man, those Chicago-style dogs are my favorite. So they had that and some nachos. So I sat down and had some, and then I was just chatting with the gentleman that was working at the counter, and he's like, hey, is there anywhere to camp around here? Because there's a lot of private property and such. And he was like, actually, you guys can just rack out in the front or backyard in front of the restaurant slash store. And I'm like, well, how much? He said, for free. Oh, that's my favorite price. Of course, I bought some things from them and food. You know, I've got to support the businesses that support us, right? Otherwise, they won't be there. Anyways, let me show you home sweet home for the night. So that is the Tenderfoot Farm here. Let me cross and make sure I'm not going to get clipped by a car. And, yeah, they've got this suite set up here. They're actually the ones with the really cool placards that I saw as I was coming in here. And it's really neat. They've got this kind of outdoor kitchen set up here for the hot dogs and everything. And what's really interesting is they have to break everything down, take all the food stuff, all the trash out at the end of each night because of the black bear around here. And they've got an electric fence that they've set up. And they also pour pine saw all around it. And just in case you didn't know, bears do not like pine saw. That is a trick that people use up in their hunting camps up in Alaska. But yeah, really, really good people here. As far as the closeout for today, it was a relatively short day. Actually, we just did the walk out of Leadville, which wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Some close shoulder highway walking, but I was actually able to get on a powerline trail that negated a lot of that. And got on the Colorado Trail slash CDT. The trail was amazing and so cruisy. I was able to knock out 6-7 miles like it was nothing. And just didn't feel terrible. It's really interesting to see how much the quality of the trails have improved once we've gotten onto the Colorado Trail. And tomorrow's going to be about a 24-25 mile day. I haven't identified a campsite yet, but once I do, we will go there. But yeah, about 24-25 over the next 3 days to make it to Salida. And then once that's done, we'll get our resupply in Salida. And then I believe it's Creed after that. And then from Creed to Pagosa Springs and then the wedding. Which is insane! And then when I hit Creed, excuse me, Pagosa Springs, I'll be like 60-70 miles from the New Mexico border. Insane. Alright guys, this closeout has turned long. I will see you in the morning.