Day 13: From Aspens to Axolotl

 July 8, 2021

Vanlog, Boulder, CO

Despite our beautiful campsite last night in the White River National Forest, neither Charlie nor I got much sleep. Charlie was up all night listening to the howls of the coyotes in the valley below and I was suffering from heat and dehydration in the van. Nonetheless, I marveled at the aspen leaves quaking in the wind as we were eating our strawberry pancakes for breakfast. It still beats sitting at home at the dining room bar. After some morning chores, we drove to Copper Mountain, CO and did the 6.6-mile round-trip Wheeler Lakes hike. A very different hike from yesterday in many respects--yesterday was at higher elevation and more open and had more people, today was more forested and warmer because it was lower elevation and there were hardly any people. We saw a black fox early on during the hike as we initially hiked through a forest of ponderosa pine. Then the trail steepened and we went through a thick section of an aspen grove. Finally it opened up near the top and (although not above treeline today) there were fields and fields of innumerable wildflowers. The end destination were two small lakes that had neither an inlet nor an outlet. Thus, they were all fed by rainwater or snowmelt. Charlie, biology major that he was, recognized a large number of amphibians in each lake known as axolotl. They're kind of cute. Look them up. One thing which wasn't different from yesterday was me sucking wind going up that 17-degree incline. The legs were hurting, it was hot, and even though I wasn't wearing a pack today, I needed frequent breaks to catch my breath. 

Just like yesterday, after returning from our hike, we drove to Dillon Lake and restored our fatigued legs in the cold water of the lake. Then we returned to Boulder and I went and did laundry at a local laundromat. Since the entire Southwest is in a heat dome this weekend with record high temperatures well in excess of 100 degrees, I think I might just stay here at higher elevation another day and then head north to Wyoming. This is another nice thing about vanlife--you can follow the weather and change your plans on a whim.