{"id":3765,"date":"2004-08-01T17:05:27","date_gmt":"2004-08-01T21:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1_1374008697"},"modified":"2017-07-01T13:12:49","modified_gmt":"2017-07-01T13:12:49","slug":"completing-segment-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cncadventures.com\/?p=3765","title":{"rendered":"Completing Segment 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

 Silver Creek Colorado, CO<\/b> August 1, 2004<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Mounts Columbia and Harvard<\/p><\/div>\n

The campers next to us are gone when we get up. They were going to attempt to climb Mount Harvard and possibly Columbia, two fourteeners accessible from our camp. It is another beautiful morning. Tim has soup for breakfast and I will tell more about this later. We sleep in a little this morning, but still manage to be on our way around 9:20 P.M. We start our days hike off with a climb of course, but it is gradual and only about 150 feet of gain. Carol had gotten up real early and taken her pills and seems to be doing a lot better with the added time they have had to take effect. Even with Carol doing well, the three of us soon are lagging behind Tim and Jill. Turbo Tim has kicked in the boosters and they are soon out of sight. We catch up to them (more like they waited for us) and start a gradual descent, which in Colorado is descend 200 feet than climb 100 feet, than descend again. We look for an old mine with an ore cart that was in the guidebook and supposedly visible from the trail but we never do see it.<\/p>\n

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Delirious Hikers<\/p><\/div>\n

We reach Three Elk Creek and it is a beautiful spot with the perfect log for sitting. So, we take a break and take some pictures as well as have a snack before the last stretch of trail. Once we are back on the trail, we soon come to Harvard Lakes. The first lake is more like a pond but has some nice looking cutthroat trout in it. It also has great views to the west of Mount Columbia. The second lake is east facing and larger but still pond like. From the lakes, it is about three miles to the trail head and Turbo Tim takes off again. We don’t know where he got the energy from today, but Steven figures it out later. For now Steven takes off with them, so it is just Carol and I for this last stretch. We hike through a forested ridge and round a bend where we can see the mountains we hiked in segment 13. We hear the others for a short while but do not catch a glimpse of them. We are on the ridge on one side of a basin and they are on the other side. After rounding the basin, we start our final descent down to the trail head. We have views down Horn Fork Basin west to the Continental Divide.<\/p>\n

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Give Me a Sign Carol and Steven<\/p><\/div>\n

When we reach the bottom, Steven is waiting for us. This is where the mystery of Souper Tim is solved. Steven figured out that it was the soup Tim had for breakfast that gave him all that energy today. So as in Seinfeld No soup for Tim\u009d. Steven has dubbed him Souper Tim for the day. It is as good an explanation as any for his fast pace. We finish right around 12:30 P.M. We hiked 6.84 total miles today. Our maximum elevation was 11,142 feet and the end of segment 12 is at 8,960 feet. Our moving average was 2.8 miles per hour and our overall average was 2.2 miles per hour. Total ascent today was a mere 609 feet. Now our big backpack trip awaits us in the San Juans. Stay tuned. Segment 12 Miles Hiked- 20.4 miles   C.T. Miles Hiked-234.2<\/p>\n\n\t\t