Backpacking Trip to Slate Lake, Eagles Nest Wilderness, Silverthorne, Colorado
This summer I coordinated all of the llama trail work trips for ESWA and was the trip leader for the trip to Slate Lake. As background, each summer ESWA hosts several “llama trips” where volunteers go on 3 day/2 night backpacking trips with the U.S. Forest Service to help them improve trails within the Wilderness Areas ESWA patrols. For the Slate Lake trip, we had 6 volunteers, 3 USFS personnel, and 2 llamas to help carry gear.
We met on a Friday morning and headed up to the Slate Lake drainage. We set up camp in a large meadow area before Slate Lake. Our plan was to wake up early on Saturday for a full day of trail work. The USFS knew the section of trail that would need the most work was between Slate Lake and Upper Slate Lake. Our group ended up clearing over 20 trees that had fallen down across the trail ranging in 8-24” in diameter. Mike and I got to use a cross cut saw for the first time, and it turned out to be pretty fun! It did give me some appreciation for all of the hard work that goes into trail clearing in wilderness as mechanized equipment (aka chainsaws) aren’t allowed to be used. We even took some of the trees we had cleared and used them to improve the bridge across the stream that you encounter right before getting to Upper Slate Lake. After a full day of working, we headed back to camp.
Sunday, we packed up and headed back to the trailhead, while doing some additional trail work along the way. I cut back quite a few willows and bushes that were starting to take over the trail in spots. When we got back to the trailhead, we said goodbye to the llamas and headed home. Overall, it was a successful weekend where we completed all of the work the Forest Service was hoping we would do.
Stats: 23.3 miles, 4185 vert.
