Once we arrived in the Leadville/Twin Lakes area, we started scouting out all of the local hikes on AllTrails. Since it’s pretty warm and dry around Twin Lakes we knew that we wanted to focus on higher elevation hikes, and the hikes around Independence Pass seemed like a good idea. Little did we realize just how much snow the pass was holding, and how slushy the snow turns mid-day with the alpine sun.
Chance of Snow
When the road in looks like this, there’s a very good chance that you’ll be hiking in some pretty deep snow today…
We picked the Lost Man Trail, and watched a couple wearing Tevas make it over the huge snow pile at the trailhead and about 50 feet up the trail before turning back due to the running water on the trail. Since we have good waterproof hiking boots, we figured that we were all set. We were wrong!
We could see the snow stretching up the valley where the trail should be, and set out to enjoy the trail to ourselves. Since we didn’t bring snowshoes, the postholing started immediately and only got worse. Few and far between were the patches of good solid snow, and about 3/4 mile into the trail we gave it up and headed back for the Jeep. An older couple on skis passed us on the downhill, probably mid to late 60s – one of the things we love about Colorado is how active people stay throughout their entire life!
Rocky Mountain Splendor
Views like this are why we’re spending the summer here
Happy Hiker
She has no idea how much work it’s going to be plowing through this snow!
Long Walk Home
It’s a long snowy walk back to the Jeep!
