Day: 045
Date: Thursday, 20 June 2024
Start: Creede, CO
Finish: Cochetopa Creek
Daily Kilometres: 27.2
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 1334.1
Weather: Light rain and overcast early, then mild and partly sunny in the morning. Thunderstorm early in the afternoon with freezing rain (literally) and strong cold winds. Later in the afternoon, cold and overcast with an evening thunderstorm.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Breakfast burritos.
Lunch: Turkey & cheese rolls
Dinner: Rehydrated meals
Aches: Dave - the usual niggles; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: We followed West Willow Creek northwards out of Creede through a very narrow canyon and were amazed at the old mine workings. The ingenuity and skill of the miners, using mostly timber and rock, was mind-boggling. Buildings were perched precariously on very steep slopes, the remains of an old railway line clung to the side of a cliff and huge platforms had been built. All this was done more than 100 years ago.
Lowlight: A thunderstorm in the early afternoon accompanied by a strong cold wind and a rain/hail mix made hiking very unpleasant. We were above the treeline and had, fortunately, at the first hint of the storm put on extra layers and our wet weather gear. Nevertheless, we got very cold with frozen hands.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
After a leisurely start to the day, which included breakfast at a cafe owned by the motel (came with the room price), we headed out of Creede around 8:15am. Dave was not keen, with a heavy pack (4-5 days food), and a big climb ahead of us, another day in the motel sounded pretty good.
However, as we left town and began the climb through the canyon, spirits lifted at the sight of the spectacular old mining ruins (see above). As an added bonus, the very steep road we were following was closed to vehicles, and we had it all to ourselves.
The steep climb out of the canyon was followed by a more gradual and steady climb through forest with the occasional cabin and a few ATV’s on the road which degenerated to a rough 4WD track before we left it to join a hiking trail. From Creede we had been following the Creede Cut-Off Alternate which, after 17km and more than 3000’ of climbing, rejoined the official CDT at San Luis Pass (11935’). The latter part of the climb was made very unpleasant by a thunderstorm that came through (see above).
Our climbing wasn't yet done, and we crossed three more passes at 12355’, 12374’ and 12618’, dropping down between each one. The storm cleared near the top of the first and we had truly spectacular views of the surrounding, partly snow covered, mountains. It was breathtaking and we felt lucky to be there. Some short traverses across steeply sloping slippery snow were challenging, but nothing too dangerous.
As we descended from the last pass, threatening clouds built up again, and we found a campsite by the trail around 5:40pm and quickly put up the tent. There were a few spots of rain, but we managed to have dinner and a wash without a problem and were in the tent by 7:40pm. Almost immediately, a huge thunderstorm with heavy rain and close lightning arrived. Perfect timing on our part. Given the weather forecast, we think we did pretty well today, especially given our exposed high altitude hiking.
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