08/23/01:
I stopped off in Salida for breakfast and continued north on CO-285. Sitting back a mile or so on either side of the road are many 14000 foot peaks and many more 12000 and 13000 foot peaks. Really great stuff. The Arkansas River flows beside or near CO-285. Lots of kayak and raft rental places along the way since the river is rated from challenging to expert. All I saw was some class II stuff from the road.
Turning onto CO-24 and then CO-82 towards Aspen was like turning into those giant mountain peaks as they drew closer. Before I could get too wrapped up in them I came to Twin Lakes Reservoir. These are two lakes connected (I hope) by a tiny channel. To the east and south are mountain peaks in the distance. To the west, however, are those mountain peaks I was heading into. And they're close, they seem to rise up just past the end of the lake.
I drove around an hour or so checking out launches, campsites, etc. Even if I had to pay the $4 day use fee to get near the water I wasn't going to miss this trip. I'm camped at a free spot past Twin Lakes village at 9300 feet. Signs on CO-82 indicated the road was open. Presumably the road's closed at Independence Pass in winter when the snows get too bad, at least this side of Aspen.
08/24/01 Paddling Twin Lakes Reservoir:
Last night was in the 40's again with a strong west wind blowing. It was in the 60's at 8:30am as I launched at the upper of the Twin Lakes into a variable 5-10mph wind and turned east into bright sunshine. Heavily forested slopes to the south, rolling, arid hills to the north and several rows of ridges a couple of miles to the east. I was headed for the far end of the lower lake and saving the spectacular stuff to the west for the return trip. A buncha brown ducks with darker brown heads gave me a wide berth as I launched.
A surprisingly deep channel flows through the strip of land separating the Twin Lakes. All shores and much of the bottom are sand or mud. My water thermometer said 60 degrees but when I had my feet and lower legs in the water they turned a little numb. The lower lake is about 2.25 miles long while the upper is only 1+ miles. A dam and power plant can be seen as soon as you pass into the lower lake. Also a couple of upscale houses on the far side of the lake.
Paddle blades flashing in the sunlight alerted me to a kayak coming the other way. When I looked closer it appeared this guy was some sort of maniac because he seemed to be paddling twice as fast as I ever could. Then I got a better angle and saw it was a double kayak with two sets of blades. That made me feel a little less feeble.
1.2 hours of leisurely paddling brought me to the end of the lower lake. A river appeared to continue on through flat, arid land but the atlas didn't show it. In any case, it didn't look very interesting and I didn't follow it. In fact, looking at the atlas, I don't see any rivers flowing into the lakes so I would assume it is filled entirely from mountain runoffs. At 9300 feet and with 11000-12000 foot mountains around it, that's easy to believe.
I turned back into a pretty steady 5+mph wind but I was concentrating more on the view. A large, rounded peak rises up 1500+ feet less than 1/2 mile from the upper lake. The bottom 2/3 is heavily forested and the top 1/3 is bald with patches of snow still up there in late August. A second, similar peak rises and equal distance off to the right. To the left I could see the beginning of a another set of peaks around a slope blocking the rest of the view.
As I paddled west the peaks on the left became more visible as they sloped downward and appeared to join those on the right at the bottom of a valley. I had this view for the next hour or so as I paddled back into the upper lake and went as far as I could. An exceptionally pretty half day's paddle and well worth the $4 day use (parking) fee.
A local hunting outfitter and guide was camped nearby with his son and a half dozen horses and a mule. He has half a dozen campers scattered around the area that he moves to. He indicated a nearby peak contained mountain goats while big horn sheep occupied another. He also said archery season for elk starts tomorrow and he'd just taken a group up into the mountains. I guess I better get out my orange vest. I don't want to end up looking like a porcupine or pin cushion or a participant at Custer's Last Stand.
08/25/01:
Geeze! Today's Saturday and I thought it was Wednesday again. I had the date right so I didn't lose any days and am still a pretty young feller.
I left Twin Lakes knowing only I was headed towards Aspen. CO 82 is a wonderful drive along a narrow valley floor all the way to Independence Pass. Lofty peaks and steep, heavily forested slopes rise up not far back from the road.
After a ways, CO 82 proceed up a series of switchbacks to Independence Pass at 12100 feet. A turnout provided great views in all directions although it was pretty hazy. A number of paths led off in different directions to who knows where. The pass is above the tree line and signs warned about destroying the alpine tundra. I had some difficulty breathing at that altitude. I took a short walk up a slight incline and was huffing and puffing pretty good.
On the down side of the pass I passed a small ghost town where gold was mined in the 1800's. I stopped in Aspen for gas, not knowing what was on the other side. $2.04 per gallon for regular, the highest I've ever paid. Not far on the other side I saw it selling for $1.57. Aspen itself? Ho-hum! All I could see from CO 82 is a wealthy community. CO 82 didn't go through downtown and I chose not to go looking for those $15 million homes.
CO 82 west of Aspen is 4 lanes with a fair amount of development. Semi-arid mountain ranges dominate the background all the way to Glenwood Springs. I hopped on I70 eastbound. It too is a great drive all the way to Dillon following the Colorado River much of the way. The first 10 miles or so is through a deep canyon with almost vertical walls rising up hundreds of feet on either side. Then it gives way to semi-arid mountain ranges. Then some high, red, sandstone bluffs appear. I passed through Vail but had no desire to stop and explore. It's right on I70 with clusters of upscale houses and condos looking down onto I70? Why? I passed signs to Steamboat Springs and Breckenridge without a second thought.
I got off in Dillon hoping the Dillon Reservoir would be interesting. It probably is down on the water. It appeared to be surrounded by large stands of blue spruce. You might not be able to see the great mountain views for the trees though. There's a large amount of development around and I chose not to explore any further. It is something I may do in the future though.
I drove up CO 9 to Green River Reservoir. It is an arid area with not one bit of shade anywhere. Since I couldn't find a free campsite with shade I returned down CO 9 to a decent spot I'd passed earlier at 8600 feet.
08/26/01:
Last night, camped beside CO 9 was the noisiest night I've spent on the road. Traffic continued on through the night. Not continuous but it certainly seemed when the noise from one car or truck faded, another was coming along. I didn't get much sleep.
I continued north on CO 9 to CO 40 which takes you into Steamboat Springs, another ski resort. Most of the way is through an arid valley with arid hills and mountain ranges in the distance. Not very interesting, to me, anyway. It wasn't until I got into the Routt National Forest and got over 9000 feet that trees reappeared on steep slopes and ridges.
Steamboat Springs is more of the same, upscale houses, condos and motels clustered in the hillsides. I've only seen a couple of ski lifts and runs and they didn't seem anything special. It wasn't till I got to the other side of town that I stopped to figure where I was going. I decided to head for the Steamboat Lake Recreation Area, 40-50 miles northeast of town.
This turned out to be a fairly nice lake with some trees around it but also much flatlands. Some nice peaks and ridges rose up in the background. I didn't think it was good enough for me to pay money for so retraced my steps for 5 miles and turned onto 64 Road which turns into FR 400. I passed a trailhead and a NF campground before turning right onto FR 440. Here I passed a couple of trailheads and eventually found a free campsite at 8300 feet.