I had forgotten how I70 traversed over the Wasatch Plateau and then the San Rafael Swell as one is warned of No Services for the next 100 odd miles as we head for the Colorado state line.
Rose was driving as we entered Glenwood Springs and we searched for Hideout Cabins RV park. I had wanted a reserved spot because of the antics we had to do the next day. Hideout Cabins is funky, more occupied by permanent residents and the spaces are tiny and packed together. But the owner was great to chat to and we also walked down towards town and found a nice riverside restaurant to have appetizers and wine for dinner.
Had to lineup a number of things: What day will we do the Crested Butte to Aspen hike? Tuesday but the forecast was for thunderstorm’s. No problem said Jess over at Dollys Shuttle, the weather looks OK, but I think he was just trying to fill his shuttle so we nailed that one down for Tuesday. Now for a hotel room in Aspen for Tuesday. “We only have a room for Tuesday as there is a bunch of rugby players coming in Wednesday” said Mountain Chalet. “Can I leave a car there for a few days?” “No, we don’t have enough parking as it is.” was the reply. We want to leave a car in Aspen, drive the RV over to Crested Butte, do the hike back and then drive the car back to CB.
Before leaving Venice our trusty neighbor, Spike, had given us a contact in Aspen. “Call him Moose, nothing else, we went to school together.” Moose was such the gentleman and said just leave the car there and the keys in the flowerpot. Done, and we headed out in search of Hwy 133 and then Colorado 12 which goes over Keblar Pass and down into CB.
133 starts to wind uphill and crests McClure Pass pass at 8700 feet. Then there is the left turn on to Colorado 12 which quickly turns to dirt, think of Swartberg Pass in South Africa. It winds uphill and then a kicker where I floor it not wanting to stall out on the crux up to the plateau’ish around the corner.
Now we look for Lost Lake Campground, Jim & Gayle put us onto it. There it is and we wind uphill looking for boondocking sites, all pretty much in the shaded forest, in case nothing good is found up ahead.
Lost Lake Slough, that’s where Lost Lake Campground is, appears and we decide on site #3 which has a nice view of the lake, worth it and better than stuck in the trees further back.
Jacob, camp host, comes by and I happily pay $9 per night for 3 nights which includes a (Mark) Geezer’s 50% discount – isn’t it great getting old! When I ask about the Three Lakes Trail he tells me of a side trip, steeply, up above the lake. Say’s there is something of a trail but all we found were pieces of “goat” trail.
Next day we set off on the Beckwith Pass trail, about 5 miles out & back. It was not the classic up to the pass crest trail but rather an enjoyable roller coaster through forest & meadow.
Monday morning we packed up and headed down to CB. We had been fore warned that there was road construction and they were only letting cars through at 10 am and then next at 12:30 pm. We made sure we caught the 10 am opening and headed for town.
