- NNML 2019 Day 11, June 20, Thursday
- Start mile 183 near Turkey Lake (sec3mile46)
- End mile 208, 3 miles from Chama spur trails (sec3mile71)
- Miles walked: 25
Hopewell Lake appears in early morning, a man-made lake stocked with plenty of fish, with several campsites in use and several people fishing.
The terrain is still meadows with aspen and spruce. Any pine seems to be dead from beetle or other cause. Plenty of seasonal creeks are running due to snow melt or recent rain, and marshy spots on the trail can be expected.
Al is a south-bound section hiker, ending at Cuba. We talked a bunch. He warns of several miles of snow with post-holing on the Chama access trail.
The trail climbs a bit, with some changes– more rocks, now bunch grass, and still plenty of aspen.
At Lagunitas Campground are many small lakes, quite nice. When I see so many lakes together on a map, I think glacier activity helped form them. Wonder if that happened here? I have a friend who is doing a trail maintenance project here later this year, so I try to spot what they will be working on.
Climbing beyond the many pretty lakes, the trail goes along a ridge with steep dirt drop-off, as if from landslide
Camp is in an area with some snow hiding trail.
Now at 10.7k elevation, wind is rushing through the trees all night.
- Finished audiobook The Little Nugget, by P.G. Wodehouse.