All aboard the good ship…

 One of the videos featured in my last blog showcased the fine art of burro racing at 10,000 feet. The town of Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States. Being a mountain town lends itself to having a lot of outdoor activities available nearby. In the winter there’s skiing at Ski Cooper, snowshoeing at Turquoise Lake and in town come spring there’s the fun but not for feint of heart sport (?) of Skijoring which I also featured in one of my earlier blogs. Summers are no slouch either with incredible biking, hiking, fishing, camping, kayaking and as mentioned before the fine pastime of getting your Ass (burro) up the nearby pass (Mosquito). In short I and Sophie, my infinitely better half, have spent quite a bit of time in the area surrounding Leadville and still haven’t quite gotten our fill of this uniquely Colorado town.

About 18 miles south of Leadville there’s a couple of Lakes, two in fact, aptly given the moniker Twin Lakes. Lying as they do at the eastern start of Independence Pass the lakes are ooo’ed and aaw’ed over by plenty of tourists making what to some is a white-knuckle drive over to Leadville’s poorer cousin (?!) Aspen. In recent years Twin Lakes has also been discovered as a fine place for paddle boarding at least when the winds aren’t howling (as they frequently do especially in the afternoons) and for those willing to freeze their private bits off should they fall into the cold (mild understatement) water.

We’ve been canoeing and more recently paddle boarding (and freezing those aforementioned private bits) for years now but one thing that we had never done was avail ourselves of the opportunity to take the guided boat tour of the lakes. So a couple of weeks ago having fulfilled our quota of biking, hiking, fishing, camping, kayaking, canoeing, and paddle boarding we thought “Hey! Let’s take the Twin Lakes Boat Tour!” So we did. The tour is a 2 to 3 hour excursion (depending on the whims of the weather and captain) that starts on the upper west lake and then meanders through the narrow channel into the larger east lake with a stop at the historic Interlaken Resort on the southern shore. Sure, there’s a 2 mile path that you can use to hike or bike in to the old resort but for a change sitting on a comfy boat seat instead of a bike saddle wasn’t half bad either. And given that the day we took the tour it was in the mid-high 80’s (which used to be considered pretty warm for the Colorado High Country) it was nice not to have to contemplate the additional 2 mile hike or bike back out to the car.

The boat only accommodates 7 or 8 people and the tour website says there’s a required minimum of four for the tour to go. On our tour there were  seven of us plus the captain who’s also a pretty good tour guide full of facts, figures, and local knowledge that makes the 2 to 3 hour tour fly by. Of course I had my handy camera at the ready and here’s the requisite video of our nautical inland cruise:

One of the things that is perhaps better appreciated from the water than on the trail is the scope of the wildfire that went through portions of the southern shore in June of 2024. I was in the area during the fire and, yes, did shoot a video (available here) about that as well. Fortunately the Interlaken Resort was saved through the determined efforts of firefighters but from the boat we could clearly see how close the flames came to destroying this historic landmark. 

Tours run from June through September and more info is available at twinlakesboattours.com. That gives you another 6 weeks to hop on board, hopefully on a day as calm and beautiful as the one we had. And depending on ole’ Mother Nature if leaf peeping season is early this year the late September trips could be spectacular as the mountains to the west light up with their golden Fall display. So as we’ve heard more than one cruise director say “Don’t delay! Book today!”. Alright, so a cruise director I’m not, but still we’d recommend this trip whether your from out of state or just a local who hasn’t yet found the time to partake of this one-of-a-kind tour…