Twin Lakes to Frisco.

Days 63 to 65.

Miles 1167 to 1225.

Between Twin Lakes and Frisco, the Continental Divide Trail continues to overlap with the route of the Colorado Trail. It passes through the Mount Massive and Holy Cross Wilderness Areas. In addition to these public lands, the trail crosses through private land owned by the Leadville molybdenum mine, on Elk Ridge, as well as two ski areas in Summit County.

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Day 63

After a very restful zero in Leadville, my friend Lindsey drove me back to the trail at Twin Lakes. We hiked a few miles together before she turned around and ran back to her car.

I continued onward, but I was far from alone. Each day, I see an increasing number of Colorado Trail thru-hikers headed the opposite direction. I also saw Crazy French Guy, another CDT thru-hiker, while I was stopped for lunch.

The trail today was blissfully uneventful. No passes, no snow. Just audiobooks and miles upon miles through nice conifer and aspen forests as the trail skirted along the bases of a few 14,000-foot peaks: Mt Elbert and Mt Massive. Occasionally I glimpsed a nice view of the peaks through the trees.

In the evening, I entered the Holy Cross Wilderness. I hiked through this wilderness before on the Colorado Trail. Since then, I’ve referred to it as the Holy Mosquito Wilderness.

The mosquitoes here are unlike any others. As a tarp camper, I’ve carefully learned the behaviors of mosquitoes so that I can avoid them as much as possible. They tend to be most concentrated around the water sources. They also usually swarm around dusk and dawn, and are less active when it is dark. They typically are absent in windy and sunny places, like clearings and ridges.

But the mosquitoes in the Holy Cross Wilderness are like a different breed. They do not follow the same rules as other mosquitoes.

I picked a campsite far from the water source on top of a windy ridge. Even so, my tarp is filled with a swarm of several dozen mosquitoes. Even as I type this, I have to stop every few words to swat mosquitoes off the backs of my hands.

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Day 64

Despite the mosquitoes, I slept great! It was the first night in a while that I did not wake up cold a single time. Summer is finally on its way to these mountains, it seems.

I finished trekking across the Holy Cross wilderness, which was at a higher elevation than I realized. There were still patches of snow on the mountains above me, though almost none on the trail. Without realizing it, I camped at 11,700 feet last night – one of my highest nights recently. For some reason this area feels lower to me – perhaps it is because it contains no passes over 12,000 feet.

I had a long, easy downhill to Tennessee Pass, a trailhead on a highway where some hikers hitch to Leadville. I ate lunch near the road, and afterwards ran into Crazy French Guy. We hiked together for a while, until I stopped to fill water. Water has been abundant on the trail in Colorado so far. Even though some seasonal sources are dry already, there are so many sources overall that I rarely need to carry more than a liter and a half.

I had a long climb in the afternoon. At the top, I reached Kokomo Pass, then followed Elk Ridge for a few glorious miles above treeline. According to a sign, Elk Ridge is owned by a molybdenum mining company. Though Elk Ridge itself doesn’t appear to be home to any extensive mining activity, I could see over to a neighboring mountain that looks heavily carved into.

In addition to views of the mine, I could also see tons of jagged peaks in nearly every direction. Ahead of me, I could see the mountains that surround Summit County and its many ski areas. I will cross through some ski areas tomorrow on the trail.

After Elk Ridge, I popped over Searle Pass, then dropped into a long valley. I cowboy camped alone partway down the valley. Tomorrow morning, I’ll walk right by Copper Mountain Ski Area. If I’m lucky, the shop might be open and I can get some hot coffee for breakfast!

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Day 65

This morning started with hacking mucus-y gunk out of my lungs. I noticed my lungs stinging and burning yesterday on the climb up to the pass, and I felt out of breath even on the downhill. This morning, I noticed the air is quite hazy. Hopefully, my lung ickiness is just a reaction to poor air quality, and not a sign I’m getting sick.

I walked four miles down the long mountain valley. At the bottom of the valley, I got to the Copper Mountain Ski area. This ski area is far from closed for the summer. They have many warm-weather attractions, including mountain bike trails, an alpine slide, and a bungee cord swing for adrenaline junkies. But I was just there for the coffee.

Beyond Copper, the CDT climbs up and over another ski area. After that, hikers can access the resupply towns of Frisco or Breckenridge. I loved this hike up and over the ski areas in 2016 when I hiked the Colorado Trail. But I’ve felt pretty weak recently and the thought of doing this climb sounded unpleasant.

I decided to take it easy for the rest of the day. Instead of hiking up and over the ski area, I walked on a flat bike path from Copper Mountain to Frisco. I reached out to some local trail angels a few days ago. Wonderfully, a trail angel named Hannah offered for me to stay at her home in Frisco tonight.

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