Missouri Lakes to Two Elk Creek
The rain stopped about 9 last night but the skies did not clear. So I was up and over Missouri Pass early, intending to make up for the miles I missed yesterday. Skies looked bluer to the east and I was intent on outwalking the clouds before they could mass up and rain on me again.
Missouri Lake under doubtful skies
Cross Creek headwaters basin. My goal was to reach that patch of blue in the distance.
Cross Creek flows in an almost perfectly straight line to the northeast, dropping some 3000 feet over 15-20 miles. It grows from a tundra brook to a substantial river, gathering innumerable side streams together. It is the heart of one of the wildest and largest roadless areas in Colorado.
Cross Creek on its way to the Eagle River
The creek takes a break on its journey
The side streams were full to overflowing from the recent storms but the main creek took it all without stretching its capacity. It stairsteps its way down to the Eagle River, water meadows alternating with cascades off granite ledges. The wet weather prompted an eruption of mushrooms. I am not much of a mushroomer, but I am pretty certain I had never seen some of the species that popped up here.
Saw only one set of backpackers. They were packing up from a miserable wet canted campsite, probably the best they could find when it began to rain. I didn’t have the heart to tell them a much better site was about 200 yards farther up the trail.
Made the trailhead about 4:30 and started walking down the dirt road toward US24. A group of older hikers stopped and offered me a ride, even though there was little room in their car.
They knew of the Two Elks trailhead and knew just where to drop me off. This turned out to be twice as far away from the trail as if they had not given me a ride, but they gave me a beer and were fun people so overall it was a plus.
Italian beer is not very good. But it is much better than no beer.
Didn’t make it too far up the Two Elks trail. There are no good campsites and the canyon narrows for the next few miles so I just plopped down on a relatively open flat spot next to the trail. It feels a bit like hoboing as a couple of day hikers have been by but it is the best I can do. I’ll be gone before the trail runners show up in the morning.