I left Steamboat on Sunday morning right after my graveyard shift ended, and after a 6-hour drive I arrived in Silverton ahead of the afternoon train departure. I had previously called the Sheriff and chamber of commerce offices, who had both told me it would be ok to leave my truck parked on one of the dirt side streets in Silverton. After about a half-hour ride the train dropped me at the Elk Park stop near the Colorado Trail (CT). I recognized the bridge crossing the Animas River as we pulled up, and the conductor directed me to the “Y’ in the train tracks to connect to the trail. I think he meant to follow the tracks back to where the CT crossed over, but I instead went looking for a phantom connector trail shown in the FarOut app on my phone. There was a group camped near the stop, but rather than have them see me backtrack I did a short bushwhack through the woods uphill to the CT. That was probably a bad decision but turned out to be kind of fun, and was a good confidence builder for what was waiting for me once I reached the CDT. After about 5 miles I found a nice camp spot near the creek, not far from where I had camped on my 2021 CT thru-hike.
The next morning I was glad to have already covered part of the climb up Elk Creek. I remembered it being a difficult descent 2021, and since then had been dreading this climb back up to CDT. It was fun to see some happy CT thru-hikers nearing the end of their journey, along with several other backpackers exploring the Weminuche Wilderness. I had a nice chat with a fellow Durston gear fan named Bubba, no trail name needed, drying out his X-Mid. In the end, the climb wasn’t so bad and I even enjoyed the final 20+ switchbacks up to the saddle (I lost count).
As expected the trail grew faint once I reached the CDT. As I started up towards Hunchback Pass I felt some colder wind & raindrops, and (thankfully) decided to set up my tent to wait out what turned into a long thunderstorm. A fellow section hiker coming from Wolf Creek passed by when I peaked out during a lull, and he mentioned this was the first bad weather he had encountered. I hiked on a couple more miles after the storm finally passed, but ended up just covering about 8 miles for the day. I caught my first glimpse of what I later learned are The Window and the Rio Grande Pyramid. I found a FarOut reported semi-flat camp site near a creek, ahead of the next day’s climb.
I hoped to cover around 15 miles so was out of camp as the sun rose. The willows were thick and shoulder-high going past the Ute Lakes. I took a quick lunch break to dry out my tent, then soon found myself facing another thunderstorm as I climbed towards the La Osa Trail junction. The nearest somewhat flat spot alongside some willows also hosted a creepy pile of bones but I didn’t have time be picky. It was a pain to set up my tent mid-day again but I didn’t mind the chance for an afternoon nap.
The trail passed around and just below the Window and it was cool to see it from the other side. It was a long, relentless descent down to camp, and I was at least thankful I wasn’t going NOBO uphill. I had read on FarOut that the deer tended to hang around camp here, and saw that as I watched a younger deer casually stroll past a camp already set up in the meadow. Jim & Allen didn’t mind me camping nearby and suggested a nice spot they had seen in the woods. They were a friendly father and son duo planning to hike up and look through the Window the next day (that looks to be a bit of a bushwhack after a long uphill climb, but one I decided to add to my bucket list). An even smaller deer lingered by my camp, kind of creepily leering at me all evening. This was the only night on this trip that I camped with anyone else nearby.
I did better on the next morning’s climbs. It was fun to chat with fellow CDT section called hiker Gezer, 75 years old. He mentioned he had hiked the extra few miles to tag the New Mexico border after hiking SOBO to Cumbres Pass, which seemed like a good idea. The willows were thick across a long meadow and uphill climb, and I missed the water source. When I finally got above the willows I could feel the wind increase, temperature drop, and a few raindrops as the trail crossed a surprise creek. I was thankfully able to fill a bottle of water and get my tent set up on an almost flat spot ahead of the storm. This was the third day in a row I had to wait out a thunderstorm. I had a short climb after the storm let up, then another long descent through the willows. My legs in shorts were getting pretty torn up by these willows that had overgrown much of the trail with all the summer rain. But it seemed whenever the trail left the willows, the route-finding became even more challenging. I was happy to find a nice campsite alongside a creek at Squaw Pass.
I was out of camp at around sunrise, which turned out to be a long way from sunshine as I was hiking up the east side of the drainage. Hiking uphill in the morning shade through the relentless, soaking wet, shoulder-high willows was absolutely miserable. I also had the Knife Edge looming ahead. After I finally reached sunshine I had a nice visit with Zig Zag, a 70 year-old super fit section hiker headed NOBO. The sun faded out quickly, and I had to set up my tent for a couple hours to wait out another thunderstorm. I slipped and fell down into the uphill side of a sketchy side slope before reaching the Knife Edge. This feature turned out not to be a big deal with the snow long-gone, and Zig Zag had given me a good heads up of what to expect.
As I approached the next climb up towards the Indian Creek Trail junction, I was mystified by a big arrowhead stone above a cliff with another similar shape appearing to be carved out of the wall below it. I was thankful to see the willows finally subsiding a bit. That evening I had dinner on a big rock near my campsite and noticed it had a random USGS plug and cell service! I was so happy to finally call my wife Maria that I forgot to check the weather. The worst morning on trail had turned into one of the better days.
The next morning was overcast and it stayed that way all day. There were some good climbs with unprotected terrain, and this was a good day to not have thunderstorms. I decided to not press my luck so I set up camp before 5pm that afternoon, at a saddle ahead of the climb to the Creede Cutoff junction. This turned out to be a lucky move, as I climbed into my tent just after 6pm. Less than ten minutes later a long, all evening storm hit.
I still had 15 miles left to get to Wolf Creek Pass, so I was up early and out of camp just after 4am. It was again overcast and I knew the monsoon would likely hit again today. I met met Stagecoach, who was headed NOBO on a CDT LASH. We both lamented the nasty weather. He mentioned the next week’s forecast looked much the same. I hurried my pace and was 10 miles in just after 10am. Then the thunderstorm hit and and didn’t stop until my final descent down to the highway. I was surprised to see a pair of backpackers starting out in this weather. My rain gear was wetted out but I kept moving and stayed warm. I was learning that I could stand at least a couple hours hiking through heavy rain. I reached Wolf Creek Pass by about 12:30 pm, and still had a fighting chance to get to the post office to pick up my resupply ahead of their Saturday 2pm closing time.
I hoped that standing soaking wet and desperate looking alongside the highway might get me an easier sympathy hitch. Thankfully a fellow hiker called Snack stopped after about 10 minutes and dropped me at the downtown post office. I had read that Pagosa was pretty spread out but I somehow missed the fact that my motel was almost 3 miles away, uphill, from the post office. I tried to hitch but didn’t have any luck. At least it was now sunny in town and I could warm up along the way. About a mile from my motel I passed the Break Room bar & grill, and saw they had outside seating. Just as I sat down a one-man band country singer named Johnny began to play on the patio, and I enjoyed a fun & tasty outdoor lunch. The final walk to the Alpine Inn wasn’t so bad now that I was in a better mood. I ended up having a great stay at the motel, and the laundromat was nearby. On Sunday the motel owner John found I was on foot and loaned me his bike to go downtown for Mass. I enjoyed the chance to connect with some folks back home, and the weather was now looking a bit better for next week’s hike from Wolf Creek to Cumbres Pass.
Lone Wolf hiking 