Weminuche Wilderness

[chinacat46]

Well the DNC is coming to Denver on Monday so I'm getting out of Dodge today. I'm heading to the south west corner of the state to the largest wilderness area in CO. We will be backpacking for a week in the "American Alps" of the San Juan Mts. This is a very rugged area with 3 fourteen thousand foot peaks around us. I've climbed all 3 but won't be doing any of them on this trip. We will be dragging our full packs up 13,000 foot passes though and that is a hump. Any way you guys have a great week cuz I know I will.

[Desert_Diver]

Dude, you are a sicko. It's not even fun hiking with a canteen and poncho at 13,000 feet. But have fun anyway.

Art

[coral cowgirl]

Rumor has it - When God takes a vacation, he goes to the Weminuche. ( We used to live in Pagosa Springs.)

[navyhmc]

Which trails are you taking? I have done Vallecito, Elk Park, Snoqualamie (?) pass trails and the only peak I have done though is Mt. Nebo

Have fun!

[rainmaker]

I hiked part of the San Juans when I hiked the Colorado Trail (Denver to Durango) in 2003. It's a very beautiful area, but I'll never forget the thunderstorms; a deadly menace above tree-line. Once when we went into town to resupply, we were at a restaurant and someone took a flash photo. To us, it looked like a lightning flash. My girlfriend bolted for the door, and I dove under the table. We got some strange looks.

[freeski4ever]

I just got back from Lake City, CO. I hiked the trail form LC to Water Dog Lake. I wish I had brought a drysuit and doubles so I could dive Lake San Cristobal. That lake is so clear, it's ridiculous. It would be a great site to do an altitude and drysuit course.

[georoc01]

The only thing is that you need to either have your own compressor or lots of tanks. The nearest dive shop I am aware of is in Grand Junction.

Another great place to do Altitude/Dry Suit is Lake Tahoe. Probably the clearest fresh water diving I have done.

[Travelnsj]

chinacat....I would rather have a Sharks in my face than Bears and Mountain Lions.....have fun...

[highdesert]

Originally Posted by georoc01

The nearest dive shop I am aware of is in Grand Junction.

One tiny LDS in Durango, but big enough to fill a tank. Occasional bear or lion in the yard too ...

[chinacat46]

Hey now,

Got back from my trip late last night after 6 days in the backcountry. It was supposed to be 8 days but I scared the hell out of my friend and after the 3rd day he called the dive. I'll post a little trip report and tell you what freaked him out after I off gas.

Here is a quick itinerary of what we were supposed to do:
Day 1(Sunday): Hike up Vallecito Trail to at least Johnson Creek(~9 miles) hopefully past there.
Day 2: Continue up Vallecito Trail till turn off for Stormy Gulch. Hike up Stormy Gulch and came near tree line
Day 3: Up pass tween Storm King Peak & Peak Eight. Then around Peak Eight tween it and Peak Seven then down to Levithan Creek
Day 4: Up past Leviathan Lake over pass into Sunlight valley around Jagged Mt. and down to Sunlight Lake(12,033)
Day 5: Day off at Sunlight Lake(Bitchin')
Day 6: Up over knoll tween Greylock Mt. and Windom Peak to get into Grizzly Gulch. Spend night in Gulch or make way down to Johnson Creek
Day 7: Depending where we stay continue down Gulch to Johnson Creek and then take Johnson Creek Trail to Vallecito Trail and camp someplace along there.
Day 8(Sunday): Hike out.


Here is what we did:
Day 1: Hike up Vallecito Trail about 2 miles past Johnson Creek. Did ~11 miles and stayed near Roell Creek.
Day 2: Continued up Vallecito Trail till we reached Stormy Gulch. At this point we went off trail and bushwhacked up the Gulch 2 to 2.5 miles where we camped at about 11,200 below the 13,700+ peak of Storm King Peak. (Did ~9 miles)
Day 3: Same as #3 above. Did both passes(highest was over 12,800) camped at about 11,600 right below tree line.(~7 miles but lots of altitude)
Day 4: Took day off and spent it enjoying the Levithan Valley
Day 5: Bushwhacked down Levithan Valley and forded the Vallecito river. Bushwhacked up the other side and found Vallecito Trail. Continued on trail till about 6.5 miles from original trail head and then camped.
Day 6: Hiked out.