A Big Week: Marcy and I Go Backpacking, Jude in London and Anna in Eugene

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Setting off from Twin Lakes for four days of backpacking

On Monday morning I took Anna to the airport for her trip to Eugene, Oregon. She spent the week at a cheerleading camp there, where they worked really hard and she had a great time overall. Jude was at his soccer camp all week north of London in the town of Oundle. He also had a great time, with a very international group of teenagers. His roommates were German and French.

It was cold and windy on the summit of Mt. Belford, a 14er (Mount Oxford is in the background)

We started our backpacking trip on Tuesday at Twin Lakes and hiked on the Colorado Trail for about 10 miles before setting up camp by Clear Creek. Day two we continued on the Colorado Trail until Pine Creek and picked up that trail for about six miles before setting up camp at around 11,300 feet elevation. The next day we hiked to Elkhart Pass (13,200 feet) and then dropped our heavy packs to summit Mt. Belford, a 14,000-foot mountain (14er).

Hiking down Missouri Gulch after summitting Mt Belford

We then hiked down to the ghost town of Vicksburg, which we found out is not really a ghost town as we met one of the part time residents there. We were looking for a campsite and Clay was kind enough to suggest we camp behind his trailer on the old road. It was a little creepy camping on the old road of a supposed ghost town but the night followed without incident.

Camping on the old main road of Vicksburg

Our last day was our longest and toughest day. We left camp just before 9am and climbed 3,000 feet in less than four miles to Hope Pass where we enjoyed brilliant views of the many 14ers in the area, then it was down for several miles to Twin Lakes. At the end of the long day we checked out the old Interlaken Resort which 130 years ago was one of the top resorts in Colorado.

We made it back to the car just before 6pm on Friday. We had covered 50.5 miles of Colorado backcountry trails with over 11,000 feet of elevation gain. It was a physically demanding vacation but so great to spend some time in nature and off the grid.