Charlotte and I lay here off-trail in a hotel room we didn't book, on a day we didn't plan, but there the similarities end to last year's 'Rough Start'.
It's been unexpected to see just how different the ecology of the Colorado mountains are from their brothers in California. They're both part of the Rockies, after all. But the rainfall Colorado enjoys, as compared to California's seemingly perennial drought conditions, impacts everything.
So Charlotte and I began ascending from the base of Copper Mountain to a plush orchestra of vivid life. At every turn of the trail there've been bubbling streams and wild flowers, and a lot of animals. We've seen mule deer and 3 huge moose, as well as heaps of little creatures. Mesmerising.
Still, Charlotte's first 10 miles were almost all uphill, with over 3000 feet of elevation gain, and a fully laden pack. I was a little nervous for her, and had us planned to do just 12-15 miles a day for the first few days.
She tackled her first ascent up to Searle Pass with determination, full of her playful self at the top of it...
...and we were spoiled to our first view of the mountains we'd be spending the next few weeks trekking through.
We then enjoyed several miles of hiking above the tree line, around 12000 ft. The thin air presents different challenges, and we can both feel ourselves getting used to it, but fortunately no altitude sickness.
To my surprise, after all those miles, Charlotte had reserves of energy, and we ended up camping near Tennessee Pass, having hiked 17 miles on her first day. She killed it.
My Dad will be pleased to note the damp conditions were no match for his son's fire-making skills.
As we began them, we met a troop of Scouts, 14-18 year olds, boyishly bantering with good humor at how tough these hills were. Well, she didn't say it in so many words, but I think Charlotte wanted to beat those boys.
All I know is she was like a girl on fire, and I didn't manage to get any more photos until we'd completely passed them all after the second of the summits...
...and once we'd truly left them in the dust on the third peak, when Charlotte had an uncharacteristic mid-day nap, exhausted from her efforts.
After this nap, she decided to tackle one more summit, such that we hiked 23 miles on her 2nd day of hiking, with nearly a mile of altitude gain!!
Having hiked 41 miles in her first two days, we were only 16 miles from our first break, which means we were going to arrive to Twin Lakes 2 full days ahead of schedule!! So Charlotte decided for her third day we would hike 10 miles to the base of Mt Elbert, have a break, then attempt to summit the 2nd highest mountain in Colorado at 4pm. This was exciting. We would have three hours to hike up over 4000 ft of elevation to catch a sunset summit, and would then have to hike down from the summit after dark!
I wanted to make sure I wasnt being disaster dad, so I asked a park ranger where the plan sat on the range of awesome to crazy, and she agreed it sounded awesome. The incline was incredibly steep, she said, but if we could physically handle it, it wasn't dangerous. We were in.
We pitched our tent, and laid out all our gear, including sleeping bags. If all went to plan, we wouldn't get back from the mountain until about 10pm, and knew we'd just want to fall asleep.
The next three hours of climbing were positively numbing. Neither of us truly appreciated what climbing that elevation in that sort of time entails. As we ascended the descending climbers either offered lame offers of good luck, or said nothing, with forlorn stares - what were we doing.
Well, despite their worries we made it to the cusp of the summit - behind us you'll notice Mt Massive, another 14,000 ft mountain.
We got our warm clothes on to watch the sunset..
And waited for the experience which our photos do not do justice.
We then got into adventure mode, with headlamps on, to decline the mountain..
...and Charlotte was just amazing.
So that's how we came to be a day ahead of schedule, and only 5 miles outside of Twin Lakes this morning.
Once we found Twin Lakes, which required some off-piste orienteering as we decided to change trails, Charlotte decided we ought to hitchhike into Leadville, the highest city in America at 10,400 ft. We met Dave, a really interesting fisherman who has hitched and hiked around America, Europe, and other parts of the world since the 50s! Thanks Dave!
so that's where we are now.
First leg, complete. Two days off. Frankly, I think we're both in shock, our bodies overwhelmed from the effort. Truly a breathtaking start.
