Copper to Monarch on the CT, Day 9 – storms and swims

Wind from the east and smoky this morning portending a change in the weather.

A climb through the forest brought us on to a tundra saddle and ridge that we followed to the old train tunnel and tracks, which took us down to the old mining camp of Hancock. A nice hike, but no comparison with yesterday’s. The trail from Hancock up to Hancock Lakes is a hot, steep, rocky, dusty shadeless jeep road lacking in all charm, perhaps the worst stretch of trail on the trip. Or maybe we are just spoiled by all the great trail preceding it. This would be a pretty average stretch on the Arizona Trail.

Clouds arrived and thunder commenced as we neared the top of the ridge over Hancock Lakes. We pushed hard up the steep trail, unwilling to stop to let the storm pass first and scurried down the other side into the Middle Fk Arkansas valley.

The valley is far more lush than any others we have seen, with mountain bluebells waist high and larkspurs head high.

The long walk down the valley ended with a steep brutal climb to Boss Lake, followed by a longer but less steep one to Hunt Lake.

A pleasant campsite convinced us to stay rather than climb to the six mile tundra hike ahead. We can do that with fresh legs in the morning.

The warm sun made the urge to swim irresistible. I could not convince Dan to join me despite my obvious state of extreme refreshment in the chilly water. It reminded him too much of his Wisconsin childhood and of being forced to jump into 60F lakes by a stern demanding father. I guess that was a trigger warning and so I let it drop, not wanting to induce PTSD in my friend.

Instead he went fishing and almost caught a greenback cutthroat, a native species that has been reintroduced to this basin. I say “almost” as Dan did not touch the fish before it wriggled off the hook, a dividing line recognized by me (and all right-thinking fisher men and women) but not by Dan. He is counting it.

An hour of thunder and rain confirmed the wisdom of our decision to stop below treeline. The post-storm dinner was homemade mac with cheesy tomato sauce (from garden corne de bouc tomatoes) always a special trail treat.

Cheesy tomato pasta – the best trail dinner ever

I somehow neglected to take a picture of this pleasant lake – here is one from my 2015 thru of the CT. It looks the same today.

Hunt Lake in 2015. Or 2018, take your pick.