Leadville High – the Back Roads are Bustling
At over 10,000 foot in elevation, the air is thin in Leadville CO. Living in Colorado in the 80’s Leadville was a “quiet” town with no real reason to stop. But times have changed and the city now boasts a dozen or more restaurants and quite a crop of summer tourists.
In fact, a lot has changed in these parts since the 1980s. More people have brought more tourism to these mountain towns, but they have also brought more ATVs, motorbikes, mountain bikes, trail runners, day hikers and, of course, back packers. The barely passable Tincup Pass of 1985 is now a parade of OHV vehicles (at least 200 in just 3 or 4 miles) and the empty campground at Half Moon Creek that I camped at with my dad in 1978 now bustles with overflowing people, vehicles, tents etc. Our hike, while through some remarkable scenery, has not been a trip of “solitude”. It’s not been quite “crowded”, for the most part. But it’s busy enough you don’t dare drop a pack on the trail or do your “business” too close to the trail. Two weeks, and 200 miles, done and we have yet to have one day without seeing a car at some point. The “back-roads” are bustling.
While I’m “whining”, it has rained nearly every day the last two weeks. The sun has only made a rare appearance the last 4 or 5 days. Thankful for good rain gear, tyvek to pull out at breaks and umbrellas. On the plus side, we have gotten some very dramatic cloud shots!
The CDT in this last section separated from the Colorado Trail for about 60 – 70 miles. Closer to the crest, the CDT has gone through some absolutely stunning scenery, up and over some major passes and several wilderness areas (havens of quiet from the motorized madness). We are thankful for the work of those in the 70’s and 80’s who worked to preserve the Collegiate Peaks, Mt Massive and Holy Cross Wilderness areas. This re-enforces our own efforts in north Idaho and western Montana.
Our friend William joined us for the first day/night/day on the trail from Tincup to Cottonwood passes, and we had a wonderful time.
For Deb’s birthday we managed to press the pace and find cheeseburgers in the small hamlet of “Twin Lakes”. Later that day we were regaled with two young bull Elk!
For now we enjoy the pleasures of an old silver mining town turned tourist mecca – on to lunch!
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