The Rugged San Juans: Cumbres Pass to Wolf Creek Pass (mile 792-861.8)

August 1st - August 5th

Day 1: I woke up this morning early and had a big breakfast. Then I headed across the street to the train yard. I rode the Cumbres and Toltec steam engine back up to Cumbres Pass. The train ride was an incredible experience. It felt like I jumped back in time. Everything is ran as it was in the 1880s. About 11:30 the train stopped at Cumbres Station and I hopped off and got onto the trail. Colorado has already amazed me. Within the first hour of walking I saw a bull elk drinking water by the stream about 20 feet to my right. I pulled out my phone to take a video and he heard me and came running up onto the trail. At first he thought he could run down it my direction, so he came sprinting towards me. As soon as he saw me there he turned around and ran up a near vertical incline. I was thoroughly impressed with his ability to climb such a steep slope. I continued on and found a waterfall and decided to have lunch by it. The day was short since I started about noon, so I only did 10 miles. The landscape is gorgeous though, the San Juan’s have so many shades of green with still some snow at the top. I’m currently camped at 11,744 feet. That’s going to be the average height throughout Colorado.

Day 2: I didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag this morning. It gets cold up here in the mountains, I’d say it was around the low 40s at night. When I finally did start stirring I got out of my tent and off on the bottom of the hillside I saw a mule deer staring at me. He stayed there for a little while while I packed up camp, but then eventually wondered off. I started making my way on the trail and immediately was huffing for air. The elevation climbed from 11,744 to 12,040. As I made my way up the ridgeline I saw a few elk from afar. I didn’t expect to be able to sneak up on them. Then I noticed some to the right of the ridgeline on the down hill slope. I made sure to walk up beneath the ridge so they couldn’t see me. When I made my way towards the crest, I peeked over and within 15 feet of me were 3 young bull elk. They didn’t seem alarmed at all and in fact continued to eat and curiously look at me. It wasn’t till I climbed a little higher and appeared above them did they run off. I pushed on and finally created the hill and the terrain leveled out. I saw what looked to be like a groundhog type animal running across the grass. They would chirp really loud and stand up like a prairie dog. I noticed that there wasn’t just one, but at least five running towards the cliffside. I went over towards the edge of the cliff and noticed them hopping from rock to rock. They almost looked like a beaver but without the flat tail. They had a thick coat of brown fur around their necks and two big teeth and little eyes. They would chirp and then run off. I spent about 15 minutes watching them and taking some videos before I continued on. As I was walking I noticed some elk grazing I managed to spook them and they ran off. I was close to the edge of the ridge and I heard an elk noise below. I peered over the side and there were eight big elk just 5 feet below me standing in the snow. The moment I appeared they scrambled off throwing snow up in the air as they tried to run. They ran straight down the hillside to the valley below. In the valley hundreds of elk started gathering and pushing on into the woods. It was an incredible sight. I figured I got enough video footage and spent about 2 hours of the morning just watching the animals, so I decided to start making some miles. I sat down for lunch around 11:30 and was sitting on a rock staring out at the snow covered mountains around me. As I was enjoying some ramon noodles and a nice juicy apple a loud crash of thunder came from the mountain across from me. Before I knew it a massive cloud came over. Since I was about to head up to 12,200 feet on a exposed ridge, I figured I better wait till the lightning subsided. I hunkered down against a pine tree. An hour passed and it was still raining, but the lightning seemed more distant. I figured I still had 8 miles to go and it was now around 2pm, so I better get moving. I climbed up to the snow covered peaks with the rain battering my rain jacket. The sound of thunder was still around and sometimes sounded close, but since I didn’t actually see any bolts of lightning nearby I kept going. As the day drew on the sun finally came out, but another storm was building and threatening to dump a bunch of rain on me. Luckily it went just slightly ahead of me and I only caught a few drops. I came upon the elk herd laying down in the meadow and when they saw me they thundered off. Around 7pm I finally made camp. I found a nice little hill above a small stream surrounded by the snow covered mountains. As I was cooking my dinner for tonight I saw the elk coming down the hillside to eat off in the distance.

Day 3: I awoke to the sound of an elk bugling and got on the trail shortly after. The mountains toward before me as the trail slowly winded up them. I came across a beautiful lake with crystal clear blue water. I wished I had a fishing pole and the thought of fish never sounded so good. I continued on making my way up the mountains. I looked around me at the mountains surrounding the area. Their patches of snow and green jagged tops seemed surreal. Some areas were a little sketchy because I had to make my way across the snow to get to where the trail continued. The snow was compact, but slick. It at times was at a steep slanted angle and a few times I fell flat on my back because my foot slid out from under me. Most of the snow crossings were fine, but there were a few that if you lost your footing there weren’t any good possible outcomes. All the rain and snowmelt has made so many streams. A lot of the time the trail itself has become a stream. I can’t go more than 1 mile without crossing a river, stream, or puddle. Around noon today a thunderstorm rolled in. At first it was spread out and far off so I continued walking. All of a sudden a crack of lightning struck the rock on the hill next to me. The sudden sight of it made me duck to the ground and cover my head almost instinctively. I started to run to where the trail started descending the mountain to go lower towards the valley. From that point on the lightning was farther off, but the rain and hail continued to come. I continued on trying to make the last few remaining miles going up, down, across the mountains and passes. The rain continued. All of a sudden the trail went into an overgrown thicket. I ventured in and before I knew it the bushes were over my head and I was trying to push through them only to be tripping over myself. The water from the leaves collected from the rain soaked me from head to toe. Below me I could hear the sound of the rushing river. I tripped and fell on my back in the thickets completely soaked. After a few words of anger I got back up and broke through to the river. I figured I could follow the river back up to where the trail crosses it. I finally found it and crossed the rushing water. It was now 6 in the evening. I was done with the days events and determined to make camp at the first flat ground I came across. Not to long after I made camp and heated up a hot meal. There were some friends I made from Texas who were out doing a few days hike on the same hill. We sat around the fire and talked as we dried out our clothes. Overall, I was thankful to get out of my wet clothes and get into a dry sleeping bag. I’m now a day and a half away from Wolf Creek Pass where I’ll resupply in Pagosa Springs.

Day 4: I woke up and put my still wet clothes on from yesterday’s rain. I couldn’t wait for the sun to come over the mountain to start warming me up. It didn’t matter much anyway because all the plants still held the morning dew and would soak your clothes as you pass by. I was making some good miles when I came upon my first and most sketchy obstacle on the trail. A near vertical snow embankment that hung over the cliff. The snow was about 100 feet across covering the trail. I saw some elk tracks going through, so I thought if they could do it I could do it. About 10 yards in I decided the snow was way to slick for me to keep going. So I decided to climb up the cliffside and come down on the other side where the trail continued. At 12,500 feet up, I started climbing and on the decent rocks were constantly sliding out from under my feet. After about 30 minutes I finally got across. I continued on and was trying to beat the afternoon rain. As the day progressed I was making good timing. When I got within one mile of my camp the rain hit. I managed to stay dry all day so I wasn’t about to get soaked. I tucked myself under a pine tree and sat there waiting for it to pass. As I was sitting there some chipmunks ran across the branch in front of me. I imagine they had the same goal as me. I finally made camp on a mountain pass tucked between some trees to block the wind. I settled down for the night and watched the sunset over the mountains.

Day 5. I got up around 6am and got on the trail heading for Wolf Creek Pass. It was just 10 miles away and I figured I could be there by noon. About 2 miles out I met two guys riding mountain bikes. We started talking and they said if I was still down trying to get a ride to Pagosa Springs when they came down they’d give me a lift. I continued on down toward the pass and just as I got to the parking lot I looked behind me and they were riding to their car. I went over and asked them if that ride was still available. They said it sure was and I hopped in. My brother actually had been doing a motorcycle trip across the country and just so happened to be in the same area. So I got dropped off at the hotel and met my brother. We then decided to hit up the Pagosa Hot springs after I got done finishing up what I needed to do today. Overall it’s been a good five days and my next stop will be Creede, CO.