Colorado Trail day 16
July 10, 2026
We woke up around 6:00 and it was very chilly - with my parka on my legs were chilly. We decided that since we didn’t have to go too far today we would lay in for a little while. Soon the sun started hitting our tent - we got very lucky with the trees and the tent placement. We got up around 6:20 and went to look in the brushy valley where the creeks ran to see if there were any moose, but there were none.
We started making some hot drinks and one of the nearby campers told us that there were two moose down in the meadow. I turned the stove off and we went to watch as the two bull moose slowly made their way up the valley. We watched and followed from across the valley for probably 15 or 20 minutes. One seemed much larger than the other and, while they mostly seemed to move independently, at one point there was some kind of confrontation or interaction between them.
You can see the dead trees near the tent. Because beetle infestation has killed so many trees in the Rockies this is a concern for all the hikers. Some people we talked to wouldn’t have camped there, but we looked and the trees were leaning in ways that would miss the tent, or live trees would block the ones that could go towards the tent.
We made cornmeal grits with jelly and peanut butter mixed in, another Chef Corso recipe, but we also added some of the peanuts and other trail mix stuff we had. It made for a nice, hearty, warm breakfast. Meanwhile the sun was warming things up pretty quickly.
We eventually got the tent down and everything packed up and started on trail at 9:20. The trail goes up the valley and then crosses a couple of streams. Then it begins to switchback up the side of the valley through a Lodgepole pine forest. As mentioned above, a large portion of the trees in this valley and some nearby valleys we traversed are dead.
Tin Cup Pass, a popular jeep destination, was just up the road near our campsite and we soon got a view of it.
After climbing above the tree line we followed a long valley up to a saddle. We dipped down into a valley and then climbed another saddle to arrive above Tunnel Lake. The trail goes around Tunnel Lake and then drops steeply down to an old railroad bed.
It got windy and showery for a bit.
The railroad bed made for easy walking for about three miles. There was a history sign part way down the trail, but it only talked about early snow plowing technologies for trains. We were hoping it would explain why the railroad had been (only partially?) constructed here. We met several day hikers and a few bicyclists in this area - a change from the past few days.
Our trail climbed up and away from the railroad bed before we got to the trailhead for the railroad. There was a little stream tumbling down a rocky hillside with flowers beside it that was like a painting or a scene from a film.
The trail followed a ridge and then dropped into the valley where the Hancock Lakes form the headwaters of the main fork of Chalk Creek.
We found a campsite down in a little dip that our neighbors from the previous night described. Then we went to the lake and filtered water, did some laundry, and I jumped in to rinse off the sweat. We made a bean and sausage soup with cold-soaked coleslaw for dinner. For dessert we made hot cocoa and walked up to a rock overlooking the lake. A young lady was looking for a campsite but she stopped to talk and ended up eating her dinner while we sipped our cocoa. She had completed the PCT last year and really enjoyed through hiking. The CT was all she had time for this summer because she will be starting a nursing school program in late August.
As we spoke the evening light turned the tan rock ridge to the east a beautiful golden color and we watched some elk on the other side of the valley. We also saw a large rabbit for the first time on this trip.
11 miles over eight and a half hours.