It's crooked and something's wet!

These were the words I heard exclaimed by Marlene as we began hiking from the fish hatchery trail head. It turned out to be a reference to her day pack water bladder which was on crooked and was leaking water, and it referred to a problem far less interesting than what I had imagined from the statement.


After a mile or so of uphill on the Blue Diamond Trail we reached the Mount Massive Wilderness of the San Isabel National Forest...




... and continued the uphill slog for 2+ more miles -- an altitude gain of over 1200 feet - until we reached the Colorado Trail. We had planned to take it over to the Highline Trail which we would then descend back to the car, but the intense August rains had so swollen the creek that we couldn't find a safe way across, so we returned by the same route. After all -- it all looks different going the other way!


The Leadville fish hatchery is the second oldest in the country at almost 120 years and it raises over a half million cutthroat and rainbow trout for Colorado's waterways. Below is a section of wooden pipe from the early days, used to bring water down from Rock Creek to the hatchery.


Our 6 mile hike was a good start to our getting acclimated to the 10,000+ foot altitude, and we were ready for some rest and a good meal in town at the Golden Burro Restaurant.