My Colorado Travelings

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 1 [Back in Colorado]

We bypassed our annual Colorado mountain trip in 2022 for a trip to the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Details of that trip are in another report here on ExPo. But we were back in Colorado in 2023. We had planned for some unfinished business in Chicago Basin. We had been there several years earlier. Our time had run short during that trip and we missed some of the 14ers we had been trying for.

The planning had been to drive out to the Durango area and spend the first night camping at Mancos State Park. Then we would hop the Silverton & Durango Railroad and get dropped off in the middle of nowhwere. We would backpack into Chicago Basin from there and set up a basecamp. Windom Peak and Eolus were on my list. Two of us had hit North Eolus and Sunlight last time we had been here. One of the three of us had also bagged Eolus.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 2 [An Unexpected Shower]

We found Mancos State Park to be sparsely occupied and very clean. We set up camp. The weather had been bright and sunny. But it started changing. We had gone down to the lake to look at the park.

Fawns were grazing by the water's edge. The sky turned pink and gold.












It was a fantastic evening, even though that scene only lasted minutes.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 3 [Leaving Mancos]

Breakfast and camp cleanup.



The old standard of pigs-in-a-blanket.



This site was on the north side of the lake.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 4 [Canyon of the Ancients]

The plan that day was a dayhike at Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. We started our visit with a stop at the visitor's center.






We selected a hike in Sand Canyon.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 5 [Sand Canyon]

Continuing on.





















We made it back to the old F-150 at the trailhead. We put in about 6 1/2 miles on an out-and-back hike.



We headed to Durango. We elected to get a motel room that night since we needed to be up early to get to the train station.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 6 [All Aboard]

We hit the train station early, paid the overpriced parking fee, loaded our backpacks in the boxcar, and boarded the train at Durango. This was the way to do it. Last time at Chicago Basin, we backpacked in from Purgatory Trailhead. We learned a lesson then; the overpriced fare and parking was better than losing time and energy on the trail. 14ers were the goal.









Underway toward Silverton.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 7 [Locomotive Locomotion]

Continuing along the tracks.









A water stop.









All of us hikers were dropped off at Needleton. The boxcar was emptied and we strapped on our packs for the hike up to Chicago Basin.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 8 [To Chicago Basin]

We crossed the footbridge over the Animas River and set off from the train stop at Needleton.









We found a campsite and settled in with anticipation for the next several days.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 9 [Windom Peak]

We set out before dawn for our first 14er of the trip. Arriving at Twin Lakes.









The trail fizzled out and it was a boulder-hopping affair.



The summit at 14,089 feet. The clouds came in and blocked most of the view to the west.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 10 [Downslope]

We descended from Windom.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 11 [Summit Party on Sunlight]

We had split up on the way down. Two of us were spent. The other went across the way to try Sunlight Peak. We had all bagged it last time we had been to Chicago Basin.



He's there on the summit of Sunlight at 14,061 feet.



Twin Lakes in the foreground. Eolus and North Eolus at the top of the frame.






We dropped down below Twin Lakes and continued back to camp.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 12 [Return to Camp]

Looking back up at the ridge that holds Twin Lakes.



There's a couple of cabins on a small parcel with private property signage.












And it was time to rest.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 13 [The Rain Theme]

The morning after Windom was planned for Eolus. We were set to get up and make a pre-dawn start. The rain started around 4:00 a.m. We scratched the day's schedule. Staring up at the drops rolling down the rainfly was how I spent my morning.











There were scattered showers throughout the day. It was concerning that this weather pattern was not leaving anytime soon.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 14 [Rained Out Again]

The next day we made an attempt to summit. We started up the trail. But the weather looked like it was fading and turning to rain. We all turned around at different points.






Back at camp... The last time it had been goats that saturated the area. We had seen a few. But this year the deer were our visitors.

 

[TripLeader]

August 2023

Part 15 [Fun Things to Do in the Rain]

For certain reasons, late upon the afternoon of the day before we were set to hike out and meet the train, we picked up our camp and hiked downhill a mile or two.










So all that led to this. It started raining as soon as we spread the tents out on the ground to re-establish a new camp. Ah, behold, the joys of camping.