LONG Views

Day 54—Saturday, September 24—Lagunitas Campground to to Hopewell Lake

37 miles

Spectacular long views (still up about 10,000 ft)

We left Zlagunitas with a hard frost on the tent, made sure we had enough filtered water, and then generally descended with ups and downs along the way through pinion pine forests, aspen stands, and high mountain grasslands. Instead of descending dramatically to much lower elevations we stayed up at 9,000 to 10,000 feet with long views into the high desert valley where you would find Santa Fe, Taos, and other towns and cities along the western slope of the Sangre de Christo mountain range (I think!).

Wrinkle in space/time where the journeys converge

The gravel road emptied on to a paved highway and the trail followed a five-mile steep upward climb to Hopewell Lake. My brother Paul was interested to know where my 2022 long distance bike route would cross over my 1985 route. I am pretty certain that this five mile stretch is where the paths converged but will have to double check. When I passed through here in 1985 there was seven feet of snow on either side of the road which had just opened.

Trail names “Not-a-Karen” and “Mr. Mayor” 

Trail names are assigned by other hikers on long distance hiking trails.This 71-year-old couple were near completion of the Continental Divide Trail which they have tackled over the past five years. If I am in this good shape in 7 years, I’ll be happy. Also had a great conversation with them about everything from writer Jill Lepore to historian Heather Cox Richardson, open range cattle, white supremacy, and New Zealand, where they lived for a number of years. I asked why they returned to the States in 2017:  NZ was boring; the friendly folks of WY and MT; and Giardia. Covered all these topics in about 15 minutes. Would have been fun to talk with them more.

These asters have been the constant all the way from Jasper.  When I entered them in iNaturalist, it says “asters and Allie’s”…I kinda like that.

Hopewell Lake campground provided some potable water and with the shortness of the day’s travel, Eric and I set up tents for a nap in the afternoon sun and made an early dinner. A few campsites away was a group of 15 riders supported by a van and truck (riders carried no weight): the organization supporting these bikers was Bike Dreams and a fully supported Great Divide Mountain Bike Ride costs about $10k or about $200/day.

Another northbound rider joined us around dinner time and shared the cost of the campsite. Rolphe, from San Ignacio (near Durango), was riding a 10 day loop.

Always good to see Mt Washington get props when you’re in the Rockies!