I KNOW YOU RIDER
“I wish
I was a headlight, on a northbound train
I wish
I was a headlight, on a northbound train
I’d
shine my light through the cool Colorado rain
I know
you rider, gonna miss me when I’m gone.”
From “I Know You Rider”, American Traditional
We
started our backpacking trip in the Weminuche
Wilderness on Friday. This trip had an
unusual twist. Rather than driving to
the trailhead, we would take a train.
The Durango and Silverton Railroad operates tourist trains through the
Animas River Canyon. Most people board
the train in the morning in Durango, ride to Silverton
for lunch and shopping, and then ride back.
We had something a little different in mind.
The
railroad drops off and picks up hikers at two flag stops along the route. The first, Needleton,
is extremely popular. It’s a six mile
hike up Needle Creek from the Animas River to Chicago Basin. Chicago Basin is surrounded by three of
Colorado’s tallest mountains – Mount Eolus (14,090’), Windom Peak (14,088’) and
Sunlight Peak (14,065’). The second flag
stop, Elk Park, is also popular, as the Colorado Trail can be accessed
there. The Colorado Trail crosses most
of the state, ending in Denver.
Our
plan was to start our hike at Elk Park on the Colorado Trail. We would head up Elk Creek to the Continental
Divide, where we would join the Continental Divide Trail. The Continental Divide Trail follows the
crest of the Rocky Mountains from the Mexican border all the way to Canada. We would cross the Continental Divide three
more times, at Hunchback Pass, Nebo Pass, and Rock Creek Pass. Along the way we’d visit a number of alpine
lakes, including West Ute Lake, Twin Lakes, and Rock Lake. Then we’d descend the Rock Creek and Vallecito Creek valleys.
Finally we would ascend Johnson Creek to Columbine Pass, before dropping
down to Chicago Basin. We’d then hike
down to Needleton to catch the train. In this fashion, we could do a point-to-point
hike using the train in lieu of running a shuttle. The train also enabled us to access a remote
area more easily. Doing the same hike
from the nearest road would’ve required a car shuttle and 2 extra days on the
trail.
This
website has a nice interactive map of the area:
Just
select the Weminuche Wilderness from the menu if you
want to follow along. The wilderness
area is huge – we were in the northwest portion of it.
I
built some extra time into the route so that we could do some peak bagging
along the way. Optimistically I hoped to
climb Rio Grande Pyramid (13,821’) and Windom Peak, if time and energy
allowed. I had climbed Rio Grande
Pyramid back in August of 2006, but the weather had been marginal. I was eager to do it again, hopefully in
better conditions.
We
had breakfast at the hotel in Durango Friday morning before driving to the
train station. We parked in a large
gravel lot for $7 per day, which ended up being rather expensive. We did get a small discount though, as the
parking lot attendant was mathematically challenged and gave me too much change
back. Normally I would’ve said
something, but since we were already paying over $50 for the privilege of
leaving our car there, I kept it.
We
arrived at 7:50 for the 8:30 train. It
turns out that we probably should’ve gotten there a little earlier. There was a big crowd waiting to board the
train. It took a few minutes to pick up
our tickets, and then we had to drop off our packs at the baggage car. Of course, we also had to get a few photos of
the steam train shortly before departure.
We eventually took our seats for the slow but scenic ride up the Animas
River Canyon.
The
ride to Elk Park took about 3 hours. The
scenery along the way was lovely, with the Animas River our constant
companion. Most of our views were
confined to the canyon, but occasionally the vista would open up towards the
high peaks in the distance. There was
plenty of fall color, too, though it was a bit short of peak down at the modest
elevation along the river.
I
narrowly avoided a minor disaster near the end of the ride. I was watching the scenery go by when one of
the lenses in my glasses popped out. I
spent several minutes searching around my seat before I found it. Fortunately Bob J leant me a tiny screwdriver
to put my glasses back together. Oddly,
J Bob had done the exact same thing during our first hike in Rocky Mountain
National Park. He was able to recover
his lens, too.
The
conductor came and got us shortly before we reached Elk Park. As we passed through the cars towards the
front of the train, the conductor explained to the other passengers that we
were embarking on a trip into the wilderness.
From the looks on their faces, it’s pretty clear that most of the
tourists expected us to get eaten by bears or to freeze to death.
They
dropped us (and our packs) off at 11:30.
We got some photos of the departing train before we began our hike. We started out at 8,900’ at the river. We followed a railroad spur and then an
access trail up to the wilderness boundary before joining the Colorado Trail /
Elk Creek Trail. We hiked up the Elk
Creek canyon for about 30 minutes before stopping for lunch at a nice spot next
to the stream. It was a warm, sunny
morning, and I had a bit of trouble getting the Bobs going again after lunch.
The
hike up Elk Creek was a grunt. It was a
steady uphill, except for the occasional PUDs (pointless ups and downs). Some of the climbing was rather steep,
too. Fortunately there were plenty of
views and lots of fall foliage to distract us.
We passed several other groups of hikers, too. Some were heading in, while others were on
their way out. The last group passed by
while we were setting up camp.
Amazingly, we didn’t see another person for four full days.
We
arrived at a beaver pond (at about 10,000’) around mid-afternoon. It was early, but the campsite nearby was too
good to pass up. The beaver pond offered
easy access to water as well as dramatic views of Arrow Peak (13,803’) and
Vestal Peak (13,864’) in the Grenadier Range.
Plus, the map indicated that there would be another huge climb a mile up
the trail. We’d had enough of that for
the first day. Also, we didn’t want to
gain too much elevation right off the bat, since J Bob was still struggling to
acclimatize.
We
had one misadventure that afternoon. J
Bob was looking for a place to hang his food when he collided with a
branch. Somehow the sharp end of the
branch ended up jabbing him in the ear. Luckily,
Dr. Bob J was able to patch him up.
We
spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at camp. That evening the real show began. First we heard the distant bugling of elk,
followed by coyotes howling. Shortly
before dusk a pair of moose emerged from the forest and sauntered into the
pond. They stayed on the far side of the
pond, but didn’t seem too disturbed by our presence. Later still, a small herd of deer wandered
through our campsite. The evening ended
with some lovely alpenglow on the surrounding peaks.
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