June 23rd, 2025
I got up to make the drive back to Leadville and Halfmoon Road very early on a Friday. I don’t usually switch sites on Friday’s, as that is when people flock from the Front Range towns and cities to camp in the mountains. Some start to arrive on Thursday afternoons, but most head up during the day on Friday. They usually stay until Sunday afternoon and then head back home, their weekend over, and return to work on Monday. A few have taken an extra day off, and leave by around noon on Monday. This avoids the heavy traffic back down I-70.
It appeared that the crowds had finally started to show up. The high elevation temperatures were a little warmer and night times were not so cold. The skies were finally sunny again. There were more people camped up on Halfmoon Road and while my exact preferred spot was not occupied, there were two other groups of campers nearby and I did not want to encroach on them. They were a little noisy. So, I found a spot in a meadow on the east side of the road. It was a little dusty due to traffic on the road, but I would just be staying a couple of nights. I hoped that by Sunday afternoon, I could move back to my normal site and that is what I did.
There was also an organized pre-race event going on in Leadville, making for a crowd in town. Runners for the Leadville 100 Mile Run were together for talks and practice runs. The real race is in August, but many runners were camped out for the weekend’s event to get ready for the real thing later.
By Monday morning, things had quieted down and the area had emptied again. I took the opportunity to get a load of laundry done and shop for groceries at the Safeway. If you visit, be aware that the laundromat in Leadville is a bit pricey. I generally pay anywhere from $1.50 to $4.00 for a load throughout my travels. It seemed like Idaho was the least expensive, and southern Arizona was a little higher. But, Leadville charges $8.00. In addition a load usually takes about 30-35 minutes in most places, but Leadville is 23 minutes. I am not sure that faster is better.
I am not sure why I keep coming back to the Leadville area. For some reason I like it, and it is becoming familiar. I am high up in elevation, which keeps the days cooler. The scenery is spectacular and the town has the things I need without having to go into a more congested and larger city or town. My son’s home is also only about a 2 hour drive away. I don’t have a home anymore, but the Leadville area is just comfortable.
I first came here in 1989. Thinking back, I am pretty sure that was the year. I became single again in 1987 and met a couple from Minneapolis while canoeing that fall on the Namakagan River, in northwest Wisconsin. They were friends of a canoe partner I paddled with from Mt. Morris, Illinois. In those days, alone and feeling a little lost, I paddled almost every weekend. Sitting around the campfire in the evening we talked about cross country skiing and a potential trip to Yellowstone during the following winter of 1988.
We really enjoyed skiing in Yellowstone, but in the summer of 1988, the park was hit with massive forest fires. Downed trees would cause a problem on the trails after that, so we decide to do a trip to Colorado in 1990. A group of ten, mostly people from Minneapolis, met at Winter Park Ski Area for some Telemark skiing, and then drove from there up to Leadville. The couple with which we canoed had a high school friend from Freeport, Illinois that was building a cabin/chalet on the side of a mountain above Leadville. We met there and he became our guide for back country skiing in the area.
At the time, it was very cheap to visit Leadville, as the Climax Molybdenum Mine had closed down and many homes in the town were vacant. You could rent a large house through a real estate agent who managed rentals for the displaced owners. We would rent a 3 or 4 bedroom house and divide the cost between 8-10 people, making a week cost well under $100 per person. We would ski all day and then try to replace calories every evening in order to ski again the next day.
For the next 3 or 4 years we returned, usually in February, to ski. It became an annual trip that I looked forward too each year. The final year became a two week trip, where we acclimated to the altitude in Leadville in preparation for “hut-to-hut” skiing the second week.
Then, in 1993, I got married again and less than a year later, had my first son. That ended my outdoor trips, skiing, canoeing, bicycling, and backpacking. I had to concentrate on being a father, and eventually, by 2001, a single full time father.
My friends continued their trips during the ensuing years. Every year of so, they would faithfully call and invite me to join, but I never could. I would thank them for asking, and then turn to my new activities of band concerts, baseball and soccer games, and other school related events. My boys and their needs became my priority. My outdoor gear was relegated to storage in the garage, muscles atrophied, joints deteriorated, and weight was gained.
You always hear about how friends come and go during your life. Careers change, locations change, you get busy, and you slowly lose touch with the people you knew. That is the way it should have worked out for me. But, for some reason, the couple from Minneapolis never let it happen. I did not go on a trip for over 25 years, but they still kept asking. My boys were out of college and on their own, and I finally excepted an invite to a canoe trip. I figured canoeing was about the only thing left that I could still tackle. I went on two canoe trips to northern Wisconsin. They were good trips, and I was glad to have done them, but by the end of the second, I knew even canoeing was over. My hip had deteriorated to the point that I could not even balance well enough to get in and out of the canoe. I drove home after that trip, telling myself “this is it, I am done, it is all over”.
And still they called.
In 2020, just before everything closed down for COVID, I had a hip reconstruction. It cost over $80,000. In less than six months, I was hiking, backpacking, bicycling, and eventually that winter, skiing again. We have gotten together each of the last two summers for camping, once in Upper Michigan for hiking (not enough snow to ski) and here in the Leadville area. This fall, I plan to join another canoe trip on the Namakagan River.
People come in and out of our lives, and the true test of friendship is whether you can pick back up right where you left off the last time you saw each other. – Lisa See
Since 2020, I have found myself in Leadville for 4 of the last five years. If you come to Colorado, and you visit Lake County, I recommend a stop at High Mountain Pies on 4th Street in Leadville. Come on a Thursday evening for Pizza and live music in the backyard. I might see you there.
Starting All Over 