I arrived in Colorado on Jun 30th after basically two months on the road. After Wanderful Wheels replaced my defective stove, whose top shattered while I was cooking, I headed to Estabrook, our family property near Bailey.
I didn’t leave the property for an entire week! I woke up every morning to the Platte River and took cover from the rain every afternoon. In the middle I relaxed, blogged, and took Annie on walks all over the old logging roads.
VANgo
Mike and Paula came out to hike, and Brad and Angie all came out to camp and to make some additions to VANgo. Thanks to Brad, I now have two DC outlets, a DC carbon monoxide and propane detector (rather than AC), and a smoke detector with a 10-year battery! Now I don’t have to turn on my inverter for my wifi or change the rechargable batteries in my detector every three days.
I’m most grateful for his help. I may even try to convince him into putting a MaxxAir Vent MaxxFan Dome Plus into my door too. He is certainly capable. He has already built two vans. In fact, his current one is for sale. Check out his video on IG @bacrabtree.
Second Creek Trail to Twin Cones
- Distance: 5.4 miles
- Type: Moderate, out-and-back
- Elevation Gain: 1,466 ft
- Other: Dogs Allowed
- All Trails Link
After a week, I finally ran some errands in Denver and then headed up to Winter Park to hike with Angie and Christy the next day.
We hiked the Second Creek Trail whose trailhead is located off I-40 near Winter Park. This is a popular trail, particularly in the winter, because it leads to Broome Hut, just a mile away in the Arapahoe National Forest. In fact, the first time I hiked Second Creek Trail, was a snowshoe via moonlight to the hut for a friend’s 40th birthday.
This time, we enjoyed a variety of summer wildflowers as we slogged up the steep rocky trail. The hike gains 750 feet in the first mile beneath the pines.
Upon reaching the hut, we continued through the flower dotted tundra another 1.3 mile to Twin Cones. While the hike flattens toward the end as it provides panoramic views of the ski mountain and surrounding peaks, for the most part, it maintains the steep grade all the way up.
Having been at sea level, I certainly wasn’t used to 12,000 feet! Regardless, the bluebird skies, wildflowers, trickling creek, and nice company was a nice welcome back to Colorado. The 5.4 mile roundtrip on Second Creek Trail was good preparation for my summer hiking in the Rockies. ETB