Last weekend Lisa and I took three different Summit Stage buses to get to the trailhead of the Gore Range Trail at Copper Mountain. Temperatures were around 100 degrees in Denver, which means it was relatively nicer in the mountains but still pretty warm if you’re hiking with a backpack on in the sun around 3:30 pm.
We got about 5 miles in when we hit Lost Lake and decided to camp for the night. There was not another person to be seen the entire evening or the next morning. Only an hour from Denver and a 5-mile hike in and we were completely alone at a beautiful mountain lake!
These are shots of the lake around sunrise:
We ate a leisurely breakfast, which included spending some time just drinking coffee and sitting in the dappled sunlight at the lake’s edge. This is Lisa and her oatmeal:
The only problem that we’d had was my feet…I usually hike in trailrunning shoes but had instead opted for hiking boots for this trip. Makes sense, I was hauling a pack and needed some support and stability. The combo of my feet and those boots was unfortunate – my feet got huge blisters and I experienced pain in wearing them. My solution? Hike in Chacos! Chacos are a kind of sandal but they are very supportive and comfortable. I’ve backpacked in them before and thought I’d have no significant problems.
So we set out for the day with the goal of hiking 5-8 miles over two passes. Here are some of the sights on the way to the first pass and just on the other side:
After descending the pass for an hour or so, my feet began to get tender and uncomfortable. This is what one of the blisters looked like:
After much deliberation and acceptance of guilty feelings on my part, we decided to abort the mission…but vacation was not over! We got a hotel room in Frisco and enjoyed an evening that included beer and burgers on the patio at the Backcountry Brewery.
Sunday morning we made our way back down the hill and into Denver to endure the heat.
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