I recently returned from the annual “Man Trip.” This year four of us trekked off to the Weminuche Wilderness area located north of Durango Colorado. We found plenty of adventure, snow, mountain goats, and snow (yeah…there was a lot of snow).
Day 1 of the trip consisted of catching the Durango/Silverton Narrow Gauge train that was to drop us off at the Elk Creek trail head. After about a two hour train ride the locomotive came to a stop and our gear was retrieved from the luggage car. The four of us were the only ones that got off at the Elk Creek stop. I felt a wave of excitement as the train rumbled down the tracks - leaving us for four days out in the wilderness.
Jason and my brother did a bit of recon and found the trailhead about 100 yards from the train tracks. We all strapped on our packs and headed up Elk Creek trail. We had a 5-6 mile hike planned for day 1 and I hadn’t found my “hiking legs” yet let alone adapted to the altitude (about 8,000 feet).
We ended up pitching the tents next to a creek and near the base of our first pass. Dehydrated beef stroganoff was on the menu - it turned out to be pretty damn good!
I was surprised how cold a Colorado night can be. Keep in mind that we were trekking in mid-June. I think the mercury was reading around 40 degrees. Luckily my sleeping bag had a 30 degree rating and I had remembered to pack my long underwear!
For breakfast I had oatmeal and a cup of hot coffee. I hate cleaning the sticky oatmeal mess from my bowl so I poured hot water straight into the paper oatmeal pack - it worked great!
Nothing tastes as good as “camp coffee.” I brought along a Jetboil stove and a french press to make that “perfect cup of java.” Within a few minutes I was warming the gullet with a cup of coffee - nectar of the gods! I highly recommend the Jetboil stove - it is compact and can boil two cups of water in less that 2 minutes (even at high altitudes).
Our second day consisted of some of the most beautiful country I have experienced. We worked our way up a step trail that ended up at an old miner’s cabin. The cabin sat in a meadow that was surrounded by 13,000 + foot peaks. We decided to break for a snack near the cabin and conquer the divide after putting some food in our bellies.
The “fellas” coming up the step trail to the miner’s cabin
Taking a break at the cabin
From the cabin we followed a series of switchbacks to the top of a pass located smack in the middle of the Continental Divide. Thank God for switchbacks, as a straight up path would have been the end of me.
The switchbacks led to the top of the Continental Divide and the views were majestic. There was also a noticeable difference in temperature brought on largely by the wind and a lot of snow.
Notice the cornice below. A cornice is the overhanging edge of snow near the ridge or crest of a mountain. They are extremely dangerous as they can break and cause an avalanche. We stayed several feet from the edge of the one below.
Ethan decided to take a leak on both sides of the Continental Divide. It appears that there is a jeep trail at the top - but believe me - no car is getting up there!
We came up the left side (photo above) using a series of switch backs. The gang tried to climb over the rocky outcropping and follow the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) but there snow was to thick. We ended up following the trail down the right side of the Continental Divide to another miner’s cabin located above Kite Lake.
After lunch we hiked another couple of miles to the base of Hunchback pass. We decided to camp at the base largely due to the fact that we couldn’t find the trailhead that would get us over the pass! We set up camp and decided to do some recon.
I climbed half way up the pass and found, what I thought, was the trail. However, most of the path was surrounded (or covered) by extremely steep snowfields and none of us had an ice axe, rope, or a helmet.
Needless to say, the group was in need of a moral boost. That evening we had to ask ourselves the following questions:
- Was the trail too technical?
- If we couldn’t make the pass how would we spend the next three days?
- Was the path that we did find even the trail?
Because our camp was set at the edge of the wilderness boundary, there was a jeep trail near Kite Lake. We decided to wake up in the morning and hope that a local would 4WD up the trail and we could run him down and get some advice.
Day 3 and 4 to Come…
