hiking the San Juans

5 dy 40 mi trip frm elk prk to needleton with Eina. Summited two 14000 ft pks (Windom and Sunlight) using CO 14ers as a guide. Guide was not particularly accurate and made Sunlight extra challenging.

See pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/remierice/20080910SanJuans

Rode on durango silverton railroad. Was gorgeous ride and was historically interesting.

My parents rode this train back in '75. They spoke highly of the area and inspired me to visit. On their train trip, a tourist got angry with the ticket salesman for being out of tickets. The tourist got out of hand and threatened the salesman. My dad had to take the dude out and so they got free tickets. Well ok he just got the salesman's back and the guy backed down. But it must've been pretty cool anyway.

Reached Elk Park, our starting point at 12:00.

Mileage summary:

7 mi first dy. 13 2nd dy. 13 3rd dy. 2 14ers 4th dy. 7 mi last dy.

None of our camps were over 11,200 feet. Wouldn’t dare camp higher. Headaches at night when camp too high unless well acclimatized.

Huge granite boulders in the middle of the valley made the glacial action obvious.

Raspberries galore near first camp were awesome. First camp was at 10.6k ft. Easy day 1 – only 4 hrs hiking and about 7 miles.

Day 2 was tougher. Saw a coal seam on the way up. Beautiful Columbines in the shade at the base of cliffs. Incredible rugged mountains all around. Old miner’s cabin in high basin just below Continental Divide, and deep horizontal mineshaft nearby. A jeep trail travels right along the Divide at some 12,500 feet up.

Did easy easy x cntry route to Hunchback Pass .. No trail b/c too tough for horses. Swamp gentians beautiful + many other flowers and crystalline rocks.

Weather was beautiful after the first day when rain threatened. Slept out of tent after 1st nite. Eina slept in. Stars beau all nites. Jupe brite. Moon waxing so began to dim stars later days of trip.

On day 3, we went down the Vallacito valley to Johnson Creek. Many trout under the Vallecito bridge where the trail to Johnson headed up to the West. Deep and slow there.

Saw some impressive old timers. One dude was about 75. Dark dark tan. Big worker’s hands. Wore tennis shoes. Walked right thru rivers. As we approached Columbine Pass, scenery was the usual – awesome. Saw mines galore up there. Found a wheel from an old mining car at Columbine Lake.

Saw several big groups near Columbine Pass. Big groups --> no elk or moose. Hardly any sign of big game. Plenty of deer. And the non-native mountain goats.

I just read up on the goats on this blog --

http://colorado-lifestyle.blogspot.com/2008/06/mountain-goats.html

Evidently, the Colorado Division of Wildlife declared them “native” so that the big game hunters would have a more authentic experience. Bizarre. Anyway, they are native to the Rockies. Just not farther south than Wyoming. She also writes,

“Sighting a Mountain Goat in Colorado is a blessed event. There are two prominent herds, one on Mt. Evans and another in the Chicago Basin.”

We happened to camp in Chicago Basin our 3rd and 4th nights! And the goats tromped right through our campsite. Little guy included! Video below.

Great food the whole trip. Eina is a gourmet cook. Lentil soup. Crn chowder. Quinoa (pron: kinwa). Etc.

4th day, 1st went up Windom and Sunlight Peaks Windom near 14,100. Sunlight 14,050. Approach was easy to 13k ft. The pretty Twin Lakes sit at 12.5k. The class 2+ route up Windom seemed more like Class 3+ to me. Headed down the NW slope (class 3). The route up Sunlight shown in Colorodo 14ers book photo disagreed w route on the topo in the book!! Went with text description. Sunlight’s S slope (class 4) route was not bad. Class 4 move at top was exposed to 20 ft fall. Eina stood on tiny summit for cameras (3 guys near summit) :) I hung on for dear life.

The descent down the west ridge was tough class 4. Managed to route find well w some deliberation.

Last day was a pleasant 7 miles.

Talked to some interesting brit "coach" fans. Met a guy from York, England who invited me to come by his (evidently pretty nice) place in York anytime. Guy’s career was as a negotiator with Marathon Oil. Interesting.

Had a good dinner at a Nepali restaurant. Eina spoke some Nepali w the servers who were thrilled. Had butter tea (probly not yak butter :) ) for the first time. Quite a thing, butter tea.