20.1 Miles
Twin Lakes
Today was day two of slack packing from Leadville and over the night the mountains received a blanket of snow as well as and inch and a half at Molasses place in town. Molasses' car was caked in ice and snow this morning and Arriving at the trailhead it was around twenty degrees. I put on my gloves and headphones and started truckin to get some warmth. The beginning of the day was uphill with a fresh inch and a half of snow covering everything which made it beautiful out. The uphill took my breath away rather quickly with the cold temperatures but ended after a couple miles. I was the only tracks on the trail until then but then followed small cat prints most likely lynx or mountain lion. They merged with black bear track right before Mt. Massive's peak trail and then plenty of hiking footprints were in the snow.
Around past Mt. Massive the snow became more scarce and patchy and gave way to no snow as day hikers past by and I approached the parking trailhead. In between the Mt. Massive trailhead and Twin Lakes was a beautiful assortment of aspen trees. Golden groves as well as hills with transitioning colors as you gained elevation. It was beautiful and stunning.
Making my way down to Twin Lakes gave way to the view of the mountains ahead and I cruised my way to highway 82 where Molasses picked me up and took me back to Leadville. We hung out with DC who also hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2011, his girlfriend Emily, and their friend Natalie for the night. I'm liking this slack packing thing, its a shame I can't get used to it.
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