Walking into Twin Lakes and the Start of Hope Pass

First Day as Jeopardy

Waking up was hard this morning even though it was 6 am (late for the trail), and Mary was packed up before I managed to really open my eyes. I was worried all night that my body was in bad shape from the injuries of yesterday because last night at camp the bottoms of my feet held excruciating pain with each step. This morning, though, my feet felt fine and I was more optimistic.

At our campsite along the river everyone was packing up and some of us went out into the woods for our morning poops while others went down to the river to filter water. I went out to the woods, came back, ate a bit of peanut butter, and finished packing up.

We got on the trail pretty quickly and the first 2.5 miles I walked alone while Mary – now officially known as LNT – walked with Weatherman and Goldfish. Tetris was behind me. Around mile 3 Mary and I walked together for awhile and eventually we all caught up to each other and chatted while we sat by the edge of the trail and ate breakfast.

Our little group has started to gather little inside jokes, and one of them is that every time one of us decides to pee close to the trail (like…. when you are risking being seen kind of close), we will say, “Hey, I’m going to pull a weatherman”. It is classic Weatherman to pee just a little too close to the trail, so we named this move after him.

The first 10 miles of the day went pretty fast. The scenery wasn’t amazing, but mostly just some solid forest walking with some mild ups and downs. Every time we passed a hiker and asked them how they were doing they would proclaim, “Just looking forward to a burger in twin lakes!”, which was a small town that we all were hoping to reach at some point during the day.

At about the halfway mark to town our whole group – who all walk different speeds – reconvened and ate some snacks and filled up on water. A helicopter flew overhead and No Worries looked up and said, “ohh, looks like my ride is here!” which cracked us all up to no end.

Jokes began flowing after the break and Goldfish was killing us with the amazingly horrible jokes:

Goldfish: “What is the difference between a dirty transit center and a lobster with a big chest?”

Everyone: “We – we don’t even know where to begin with this one.”

Goldfish: “One is a crusty bus station and the other is a busty crustacean.”

LNT (Mary) and I laughed at that one for way too long.

There was one or two steep climbs into town but overall it was a pretty mild day. The last two-ish miles to town felt really hard, especially the last part on an old dirt road, but Mary, Tetris, and I all walked together – just us girls – and talked about our lives and travel.

Tetris is a 36 year old doctor (just one of a million cool things about her), and Mary and I absolutely adored her! She hiked the AT in 2019, takes care of kids for her jobs, and after the trail is heading to Switzerland to study philosophy and theology for 3 months! Tetris was one of those people on the trail with infectious positive energy and an ability to include everyone, and Mary and I absolutely fell in love with her as a role model and MUCH more importantly – a friend!!! Trail people are the greatest, and Mary and I felt lucky to meet so many amazing people along the trail, Tetris especially!

The last half mile into Twin Lakes (the town) was on a sloppy, rocky dirt road and I was beginning to reach wit’s end on top of being in a lot of physical pain (my feet!!). This was about 14.5 miles in. As we were rounding one of the last curves going into town we saw a red cooler on the side of the trail.

…could it be?….

TRAIL MAGIC!!!!

Trail Magic by Caveman once again – the same guy as our first trail magic experience!!

We all grabbed a soda with a newly lightened mood – trail magic always seems to come when morale is low – and we made our way to the food truck in town.

Hiker Hunger in Twin Lakes

Now, we need to stop for a second while I explain something: there is this thing called hiker hunger. Hiker hunger is when you have been hiking, and you are calorie deficient, and you have a super-human ability to scarf down a ridiculous amount of food.

I did not have hiker hunger

…. until Twin Lakes.

At the food truck everyone ordered their food, and I ordered a cheeseburger and the largest plate of fries you have ever seen. Everyone else did too, and nobody could finish the hiker-portioned plates.

Except me, of course.

I scarfed down the burger and fries, and then I headed to the store and ate some MORE food, and then I ordered a Chai from the drink place down the street. I sat and ate for hours as we all relaxed in town and hung out with all sorts of hikers – meeting new faces and reuniting with people we had met along the way. We all took turns going to the General Store down the street while the rest of us stayed at the outdoor seating area of the food truck and exchanged food and stuff. We sat around for 2-3 hours, enjoying the people and the atmosphere and the close proximity to food.

 

The Beginning of the West Collegiates – and Hope Pass

It was hot out and we were waiting for the heat to fade before continuing a few extra miles to knock off part of tomorrow’s big climb. We decided to take a bit of a short-cut around the lakes and went west around them instead of east – cutting off around 6 miles (I know – we are not purists!). We followed the Continental Divide Trail – a trail that shares part of the Colorado Trail but is much longer, going from Mexico to Canada.

Tetris and I walked slowly up the hill while the boys and Mary practically ran. The incline went by surprisingly fast – maybe because I was anticipating the hardest climb of the trail yet – and before I knew it we had gone 1.75 miles and many 100s of feet upward.

Mary and the boys waited for us at a stream where we filled up and then the boys went ahead to find a campsite. Mary, Tetris and I walked up the steepest hill for what seemed like forever, but we passed the time talking about books and literature. As I was looking around the trail I was getting nervous because it seemed like there was no possible places to camp – much less camp with 4 tents.  The path was on a steep mountainside, but suddenly we turned the corner and the boys were sitting there. They waved us over and excitedly announced that they’d found a great spot.

The spot was great! It was off-trail a bit and it was amazing they even found it, but it was big and flat and easily fit all four of our tents, and could’ve fit even more. We all set up camp, ate our newly-stocked food from town, and I got out my ukulele I’d been carrying and played a couple songs as we all talked and laughed before hanging food and going to bed.