Twin Lakes

Despite being set up on dirt and not near a bunch of vegetation, the tent was still soaked in condensation this morning. I think I’ve just forgotten what a silnylon tent is like. I’ve mostly used a cuben fiber one in the past few years, if I used a tent at all because I’m often near shelters in the northeast. My one-person cuben tent is more ventilated too, plus this silnylon one has two people breathing in it. We’ll need to experiment with some different venting options to figure out how to lessen the condensation.

Anyway, the tent had frost on it too, which immediately started melting when the sun hit. We dragged our stuff out in the sun to dry and wiped the tent down to help it dry faster. We got a late start out of camp but at least we packed everything up dry to begin with and didn’t have to pull it all out later.

We started with a couple mile uphill, at which point we then stopped because there was phone signal and I needed to make some logistical phone calls regarding getting picked up tomorrow. By the time I was done, it was almost lunch and we’d barely walked anywhere. We were able to do a few more miles before actually stopping for lunch at a random spot on the side of the trail.

We soon reached Twin Lakes Reservoir, where the Collegiate alternates end and the CT and CDT are back together again. Walking around the reservoir was quite scenic and took all afternoon. We were staring at Mount Elbert the whole time, which we plan to climb tomorrow.

We had level-ish walking for at least 6 miles and then an unexpectedly easy climb at the end of the day. We stopped at a campsite at 10400′ not too far before the South Mount Elbert Trailhead to camp after 16.6 miles. The plan is for an alpine start tomorrow.