Another highlight of our fall Silverton-Durango vacation in 2015 was hiking Ice Lakes. Often described as the most scenic hike in all of Colorado, we found it to be certainly up there. Our only hesitation in making that declaration is the astonishing number of beautiful hikes to be found in Colorado. Much more exploration is needed! In addition to being a standout experience on this vacation, it was the all time most strenuous hike, based on sheer numbers, we have done to date.

Our GPS recorded nearly 9.2 miles round trip, and 3100' of elevation gain. WOW! The trail took us to 3 beautiful alpine bodies of water, and a 4th waiting for us to visit in the future. With close to 10 years of hiking together, this was an all time record for us. After researching the hike we were prepared for an extended day and fairly exhausted bodies for our effort. To our great surprise, and pleasure, we finished up tired but not trashed. What a great sense of accomplishment the hike rewarded us with. Not to mention the memories of the immersion in the sheer beauty of the landscape we traversed. And indeed, we made a full day of it - about 9 hours round trip.

A decided boost to the end of the day was the proximity of our RV back at camp, to the trailhead. A mere 4 mile drive saw us home and cozy, back in The Z, with home cooked food ready and waiting for heating and eating. Double votes for having a forty foot bus waiting for us to come home to.

Our dream is to make such events our common lifestyle. Hiking Ice Lakes, with a return to our 'home' just minutes away, cemented the feeling that we are on the right course - our pursuit of full-time RV living!