Sagebrush and Pines: The Twin Lakes Loop
Through the sparse pines I could make out the off white paint of the buildings throughout the historic Twin Lakes Interlaken Inn. I hacked up a ball of phlegm and spat it into the sparse snow of the underbrush on either side of the trail. I was nearly three quarters of the way there, just a few more miles. It was clear at this point I hadn’t eaten enough. I was bonking, bonking fast and my legs felt like they were full of concrete. I huffed, and kept going on the trail across the beach past the main decks of the inn. At least there was only 1500’ elevation change to go. About an hour and a half before, Sarah and I finished our final little preparations for the trail. The route the loop took around the lake was mostly straightforward for the most part, as a majority of the trail traversed across the high desert sagebrush of the northern shore of both lakes. We had been looking forward to doing this loop for weeks, and the surprise early May snow had threatened to ruin our plans.