Skip to main content

Day 53 - San Juan Mountains

The San Juans of Southwest Colorado are dramatic mountains.  Glacier-carved, they are steep and rugged, and snow covered until July. This was May. I arose early and drove back up to sensational Lizard Head Pass and Trout Lake. I wanted to hike up into the snow to the base of Lizard Head Peak, maybe 12000-13000 feet up. I figured I would just walk on top of the snow and I would bring my mini crampons just in case. But first I needed a map. 

I continued down the scenic road to the Mountain Village, a luxury ski resort, but it was shut for the season. I then drove on to Telluride, a popular ski resort town, where I found an outfitter with a map. Map in hand, I drove back to Lizard Head Pass and started my hike!  After fifteen minutes, the trail went through a forest, with foot-high-plus piles of snow. I started sinking in the snow almost waist deep (this is called post holing). I was making hilariously slow progress and I was gasping for air at this high altitude (it takes several days for your body to adjust) so I decided to backtrack and go to a lower elevation.  Pics of Lizard Head Pass, close-by Trout Lake and Mountain Village. 




Rain fell intermittently as I drove farther north on the scenic road toward the Dallas Divide, another famous high pass. I turned off the main road to explore the Last Dollar Road and was treated to mile after mile of millionaire ranches with billionaire views. Few people seemed home and the roads were quiet and the vistas grand. 


I continued up past some more mountain towns to Ridgeway and then Ouray, eventually going east in order to go back south down the other side of the San Juan Mountains. Just after passing Ouray, I began to climb a crazy-narrow highway when I saw three Big Horned Sheep on the road. I stopped and got a pic of one just before it climbed up the sheer cliff above the road. 


Almost as if the Big Horned Sheep called the storm, rain and then snow began to fall gently as I drove up the high mountain passes to get to the other side of the San Juans. But the temperature was just above freezing so nothing stuck to the road and I made it up and down the winding roads safely. I stopped briefly in Silverton, the largest town on that side, but it felt like a ghost town, sad in its emptiness, so I drove south hoping to find a suitable campsite. 

But with the rain pouring down and the forest getting more private ski-resort-ish as I descended, no suitable campsites were found. I drove all the way to Walmart in the city of Durango, hoping I could camp there.  I was met with two huge disappointments: giant Walmart signs saying no overnight camping: you will be towed and a cold and wet mattress and pillows, drenched when my water container had fallen. And it was raining. And it was getting dark. And I had a bad sour throat and a developing cold, both likely from altitude sickness. So I bought a hotel room.  I took the mattress and pillows inside, took a half hour hot shower and watched mindless TV until I fell deeply asleep. 




Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward.  On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills.  Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising.  I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch).  After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch.  The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead.  The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics.  By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 42 - Escalante Stevens Arch

The Stevens Arch is so massive that legend says daredevil pilots would fly through it. I was excited to see it!  Having napped most of the afternoon, I awoke promptly at 545, packed up my things and hiked down to the Escalante River as the first morning light was pouring into the canyon. Hiking around more waterfalls and ledges and along the stream before anyone else was up was nice.  My written directions said to look for sandy hill to my right which led up to my only exit from the canyon-- the Crack-in-the-Wall. I ran into the confluence of the Escalante River, a point which my guidebook noted was passed my exit route, requiring a ten minute backtrack. This was fine though because I had tons of time and wanted to see the Stevens Arch.  I crossed the knee-deep Escalante River several times before the Arch came into view. Like a window in the Roman Colloseum, the Arch seemed almost engineered by man in this tall curving canyon wall. I hiked under the arch and couldn't eve...
Post a Comment
Read more