Colorado Trail – Collegiate West day 5

trip report by besthike editor Rick McCharles

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Tunnel Lake to Hunt Lake

I made it through the night without putting the fly on the tent!

UP – as usual – to the next pass. It looked imposing. On the other side are some buildings in Hancock. It was a relief, actually, to make better time walking an old rail line. Everyone loves the under regulation of hiking in Colorado. There are very few restrictive rules. One thing asked is that hikers register in log books as they pass by. Unfortunately each I passed was full. There were no pages left. Seems the system is broken. 😦In 2015 we still walked roads along the Arkansas River head waters en route to Hancock Lake. But volunteers were there in force building the trail which will soon run parallel to the roads. I was impressed with their enthusiasm. Roads – and historical artifacts – exist in unusual places due to mining. I was happy to reach this lovely spot.

I chatted with a  fisherman. He’d seen a herd of elk cross Chalk Creek Pass this very morning. I didn’t see the elk. But there were three moose at Upper Hancock. Chalk Creek Pass was glorious. It’s a joy to get good weather up so high. In the heat, marmots got lazy. I happened upon the empty Trail Crew camp. It inspired me to volunteer myself, one day. 🙂 Over the bridge. Up to Boss Lake. I was keen. The weather was great. But an Austrian couple 3 weeks on the CDT convinced me I didn’t have time to make the final 9 miles so I set up at Hunt Lake. It turned out to be the prettiest campsite of my week. more full resolution photos

day 1 | day 2 | day 3 | day 4 | day 5 | day 6 | info page