Brad and I originally planned to do a backpack into the Weminuche this past week, but there were forecasts of heavy rains so we called and audible and instead headed down to Willow Lake in the Sangre de Cristo mountains for a shorter hike that would take less time. Mt. Adams was on both of our lists, and was highly recommended by other hikers. We started on the trail completely engulfed by mosquitos. Wow. I'd never experienced such thick clouds of these vampires. They were so numerous that we would accidentally inhale them and gag every so often. It made for a miserable 5 miles and 3000ft. of elevation gain to the lake. Relieved to arrive at the lake, we looked around to enjoy the majestic mountain scenery. Only...wait...none of this looks like Willow Lake. Where was the massive waterfall and the views of Kit Carson Peak? Another hiker noticed that we looked confused and told us that we were 5 miles in the wrong direction! This was actually South Crestone Lake, not Willow Lake.
Bighorn Sheep
Brad's Karate Mobile
"This doesn't look right."
We had a good laugh (either that or cry) and sat down to think bout our options and look at a map. We figured out that we were looking up at Unnamed 13,159 to the east and Unnamed 13,552 to the south. Both of these were connected to Adams via their ridge so we decided to try and create our own route from here and see if the terrain would let us summit Mt. Adams. We did some scouting of the route that evening to see if we could gain the ridge of UN13,159. Once we realized we could do that, we had high hopes that we'd have a good shot to summit Adams the next morning. We built a campfire and enjoyed a mosquito-less night once the temperatures dropped.
Sunset over UN 13,552
The next morning we trailblazer our way to the top of UN13,159. It was another beautiful sunrise in the Sangre de Cristos. It's always a special experience to hike in places where you know very few others have traveled and experience the solitude. From the top of our first 13er, we looked at the route up Mt. Adams and had some serious doubts weather or not we'd be able to summit from here. The slope turned out to be much more doable that it looked from a distance. Once we reached the saddle, it was over 1000 ft. of type 2 fun climbing on steep loose talus. At the top was the summit blocks that we weren't sure we'd be able to safely climb, but hoped that the ridge would offer some doable options on the back side. Our hopes came true at the top and we had some quick fun scrambling to reach the summit. Brad and I agreed that Mt. Adams must be one of the best summit views in this mountain range. You could see a clear angle on all 5 of the Crestone 14er group.
The Great Sand Dunes are a special place. It's a super unique national park that is in the middle of nowhere southern Colorado. 360 Sangre de Cristo mountain views and hundreds of miles of sand with no trails. To get to the dunes, we started at the parking area and walked across Mediano Creek, which was cold on the first day and warm on the second day based on whether or not the sun was out.
The kids have been to the dunes before, but Kolby was only a toddler and KD didn't even remember the experience being a 3 year old. This time, we drove down there and didn't tell our kids that our family friends were going to meet us there. It was a fun surprise when they showed up to our camping spot the first night. The look on their face when they saw them was priceless. We had a great time with the Coffins as we stayed at our parents "cabin" in the Spanish Peaks area the first night and then rented a cabin near the dunes on the second night. The kids (and adults) got to play in the creek and, believe it or not, all of the older kids made it to the top of High Dune, which was not an easy task! The wind up there was intense.
The past few weeks have been very warm and dry throughout the state. A huge fire near Durango had closed the San Juan National Forest. This weekend the mountains received a fair amount of needed moisture, which has helped to calm the fire. We also received a fair amount of moisture this weekend making for a cold, wet trip to the Sangre De Cristo mountains.
James, Lindsey, Cami and I backpacked into South Colony Lakes Basin on Friday afternoon.
I woke early to catch the sunrise on Crestone Needle.
Once we all reached the lower South Colony Lake, James and Lindsey decided to hang a hammock here and relax while Cami and I continued up Humboldt. The cloudy sky held steady until we neared the summit of the peak around 10 AM. Then the wind and clouds came in rapidly and covered us and the peaks in white. This was my second time hiking this 14er and both times have been covered in clouds with no views up high. Rain and hail soon followed and we descended quickly. The temperature went from hot to cold so fast!
From the saddle
Last shot before the clouds covered everything
While up there, I was able to confirm a long debated theory about the existence of an elusive creature called Sasquatch (A.K.A. Bigfoot). On our descent, Molly started barking at a huge apelike creature that came up out of the mist. He waved at us just as I whipped out my camera to take his picture, then ran back down the mountain and disappeared.
Proof of Bigfoot
Back at camp it poured for a few hours. We built a fire to dry out our clothes and make some delicious dinner. We talked about personality types and had a great time with good friends. We all turned in before it was dark. In the middle of the night it started pouring again. We were all awakened by a loud rock-slide on Marble Mountain south of us. It sounded like we might be crushed in our tents, but we survived.
The next morning Lindsey joined me on a hike back up to the lake to catch the sunrise again. The peaks were covered this time, but there was bright color to the east.
On our way out, we realized none of us had ever seen Bishop's Castle that was down in that area. There's an interesting story about this unique attraction if you google it. The castle is quite impressive. Much larger than I thought in real life. James and Lindsey went up in it to explore. Cami and I were tired of stairs.
