We knew from the day before, that we had about a 10 mile hike ahead of us. We packed enough supplies for a full day hike, filled our water bottles, grabbed the trekking poles, and set off for the top of Alta lakes in the San Juan Mountains.
While enjoying this beautiful scenery and hiking up, we stopped to take in the scenes and breathe the evergreen smells. While Stephen was attempting to write his name in the snow….(yes…you know what I’m referring to), I was looking across the land. I saw this in the distance but wasn’t sure what it was. I used the zoom and my heart stopped. I showed it to Stephen and he skipped the “en” in his name, got put back together, and said “WHAT IS THAT???” (this is as far as I could zoom). I didn’t want to stand around and question, I was headed back down. I’m sure the lake was still there at the top, no need to see it in person, let’s go NOW.
Stephen, the ever curious, wasn’t budging.
So, the first thing we thought was a hunter….only it’s not hunting season of any kind. It looks like a side profile of a hunter with a pack on his back, wearing a light long sleeve shirt, and a hunter’s mask for camouflage. We stood there waiting for any movement. Nothing.
Then I thought…maybe it’s a dead hunter and the snow is just now melting to reveal him. As you can see, snow is all around.
We finally reconciled that it’s just a weird stump of tree and roots. And we are sticking with that. We kept going way AROUND the dead man/stump/pre-historic creepy thing.
We stopped for lunch. And I have to say, as much as I love finding new local places to eat, today’s lunch was just plain good.
The view
We are sitting in front of an old abandoned mining town. All that’s left are a couple of buildings, the mine opening, and some signs telling us to stay on the road.
The food
I made this before we left in the wonderful Colorado sun. I miss this light! I don’t have light coming in my kitchen like this.
More granola crumble bars and the best orange to ever come from wal-mart.
After lunch, we made the final two miles to the lakes.
It was frozen beautiful and quiet. Yes, the sky really is that blue. The only editing was cropping.
After a breathtaking full day of hiking, we decided to stay in and eat dinner at the hotel restaurant. Hint..pasta and chocolate. Perfect end to a great day.