Go Around the Bend: White Star and San Luis Lakes

Rog is getting pretty good at picking places on the fly. The National Forest campground that we’d slotted into our spreadsheet had already closed for the season, so Rog came up with a pretty spectacular Plan B. White Star is a National Forest campground situated on Twin Lakes. We arrived on Sunday, 9/22, and snagged a spot in the loop closest to the lake.

Not too shabby for a Plan B.

We had water for Riley, hiking and mountain bike trails, and some of the best views of any campground we’ve stayed in.

Twin Lakes.

View of Mt. Elbert from the campground.

Rog did the 14-mile Twin Lakes loop on his mountain bike. He said it was probably the best ride he’s done on this trip. Hands down it certainly had the best scenery! He was especially impressed by the aspens in their fall finery. I love the pictures he took!

Twin Lakes Trail.

Mt. Elbert on the left, Mt. Massive on the right...

... pretty everywhere you look!

The aspens were so gorgeous.

The trail wound through mature aspen groves along the lake.

A tunnel of gold.

He also got to explore the Inter-Laken Historical Site across the lake from the campground. In the 1800’s millionaire James Dexter bought a small hotel on the shores of Twin Lakes with the vision of turning it into a world-class resort. He built a summer house for his family, added over 2000 acres to the property, and set about upgrading and adding onto the resort. It offered relative luxury in a rustic mountain setting. Wealthy guests could play billiards or cards, ride horses, enjoy a picnic on the property or take out a canoe or rowboat. Or, if so inclined, they could take a cruise on the 50’ steamboat or the 30’ yacht. However in 1897, the Twin Lakes Reservoir Company dammed the lower lake for agriculture flooding the road and bridge to the resort. It never fully recovered and eventually fell to ruin.

In the 1970’s the Bureau of Reclamation built a new dam that would totally flood the resort. Archaeologists combed the area for artifacts and the buildings remaining today were moved 150’ to protect them from flooding. The site is being restored by volunteers. It is pretty cool, you can wander the property and even go inside the Dexter summer house and see the restoration in progress.

The Dexter summer home (top left) and restored buildings from the 1800's Inter-Laken Resort.

Excellent restoration work - check out the detail in those moldings. Wow.

While Rog was pedaling his heart out, Riley and I spent the day hiking, playing in the lake, and trying out the hammock. Which would you rather do? Lol.

Riley does crazy dog after a dip in the lake.

This is the life!

Our next stop was the San Luis Lakes State Wildlife Area about 15 miles west of Great Sand Dunes National Park. San Luis Lakes used to be a state park and has a large campground with 51 sites. Since it was designated a wildlife area all you need is a $43 annual permit and you can camp up to 14 days. What a sweetheart deal! We arrived on Wednesday, 9/25, with plans to stay 4 nights and use it as a base to see Great Sand Dunes. We chose a huge pull-through site right next to a small dry lakebed – a perfect spot for Riley to play ball. The sunsets were amazing, and we enjoyed watching a huge thunder and lightning storm cross the valley, just missing us. 😊

Sunset at our spot on San Luis Lakes.

Riley waits patiently for just a little more ball time!

Incoming!
Thought we were going to get wet, but it just missed us.

San Luis Lakes is an important stop for migratory waterfowl, huge flocks of Sandhill Cranes stop here on their spring and fall migrations, although we missed the nesting time between February and July. The area is an interesting part of the local ecology, climb a short hill and you can get a view across the lake of the Great Sand Dunes. Desert, grasslands, water….more on that in the next post with pictures from our visit to the dunes.

View from the campground across San Luis Lake.
The Great Sand Dunes are at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

On Friday, 9/27, we took Riley on a hike to Zapata Falls about 8 miles north of the national park. The trail to the falls is only about a half-mile but it’s rocky and (of course) uphill. The falls are hidden in a cleft and the fun part is that you have to wade through the creek to get to them. Now that’s something Riley was up for. Lol.