Buena Vista, CO → Buena Vista, CO
0 mi, 0 ft elevation
My best friend may be a Reneé Rapp super-fan, but it took me until today to understand why. I learned about her song Colorado when the rest of the team played it as we left Kansas and entered the song’s namesake. Still didn’t get it.
But today, I woke up with the sun streaming into my tent (no rain fly for the win) and the soft hum of conversation near Chrissy. We were camping on our host’s lawn (thank you Dan!) and the scenery was straight out of a postcard. Mountain vistas painted the landscape, brightened by the morning colors behind them. Today was going to be a good day.
We crowded around one of our tents for a quick breakfast before heading out to hike part of the Collegiate Range, which sadly does not include MIT. Sophia and Rebecca went into town for a work sesh and the rest of us piled into the car.
Upon entering the trailhead, JD and I found walking sticks (although I discovered mine was horribly inefficient and made walking more difficult so I quickly discarded it).
The trail itself was a lovely hike with dynamic microclimates. Stream crossings, mini-waterfalls, sandy passes, and towering trees made the mountains we saw in the distance earlier this morning come to life.
By the time we got to our destination, the Harvard Lakes, we were ready to jump in the water (or at least Cleo and I were). It was a bit chilly, but we eventually convinced everyone to go in. It took some of us (JD) over five minutes to get in, but swimming around in this lake was honestly one of the most memorable experiences of the summer for me.
Following our swim, the old people (Varsha, Jess, and I) returned to Buena Vista to go to a cafe and the young people (JD, Hank, and Cleo) continued to hike towards Mount Columbia.
Along with some beautiful pictures they took, here are some quotes from them about the experience:
“Don’t hike when it’s hailing.” - Hank
“It was cold.” - JD
“Don’t hike in busted Reebok's.” - Cleo (don’t worry, she has new shoes now)
“No matter how badly you want to hike to the top of the mountain, you should maybe turn around so you don’t die.” - Hank
While JD, Cleo, and Hank were freezing their butts off but also seeing some amazing views, Varsha, Jess, and I met up with Rebecca and grabbed some Vietnamese food (so good!!). I obviously had to do my mandatory coffee stop afterwards. Lattes in hand, we parked ourselves where there was free wifi and worked.
Soon, the trio descended from the mountains and joined us in BV (as the locals call the town) to grab some ice cream.
Next came one of the things we had looked forward to the most on this trip- meeting up with Stanford Spokes. For the whole summer, we had been reading their blogs and bios to figure out who they were. We even tried (unsuccessfully) to start a Messenger group chat between both teams. Thankfully, we were able to plan dinner tonight at a Mexican restaurant in Salida, the town over from BV.
Dinner felt like old friends reconnecting- we went around and tested our recollection of each others’ bios and shared our craziest experiences on the trip. Stanford Spokes gave us advice about highway 50 and Utah’s National Parks and we shared our harrowing experiences with Kentucky’s dogs.
Sadly, we had to depart from Stanford Spokes after dinner- but not before making an iMessage group chat that we promised to keep active. We drove back to BV, packed into Chrissy with the music blasting. In an earlier blog, I mentioned savoring the small moments. In this moment, screaming lyrics from the backseat with the team, our bellies and hearts full, I felt invincible.
This invincibility quickly dwindled as we pulled into our host’s lawn and found that our tents were completely blown over and rained on. To be fair, we were strongly recommended to stake our tents to the ground (which we did not).
Unfortunately, the rain and rollercoaster wind completely soaked Cleo’s and Varsha’s sleeping pads. That night, we took a page out of Stanford Spokes’ book and the two of them slept in our van (although, despite our love for Chrissy, she is like the budget version of Stanford’s van, so this actually seemed like a really unenjoyable experience- sorry Cleo and Varsha!)
Like the wind, today felt like a rollercoaster (but a welcome one). A beautiful hike, cold swimming, some good sandwiches, an oat milk latte, and lots and lots of conversation. Thank you, Colorado, for reminding me what I love about summer.
P.S: Hike details for those interested: we started at the Three Elk Creek Trailhead and hiked up to the Harvard Lakes on this trail (https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/harvard-lakes-trail). A subset of us then continued to Mount Columbia from there.
it's a good song