Weminuche Wilderness Backpack

Original Trip Description: (July 15-22, 1995)
The 433,745 acre Weminuche Wilderness, located near Durango, is the largest wilderness area in Colorado and offers some of the most scenic high country hiking trails in the continental United States. An eighty mile stretch of the Continental Divide serves as its backbone. Elevations within the wilderness boundaries range from 8000 feet above sea level to slightly over 14,000 feet with the average over 10,000 feet. Because of the high elevations, roughly 40% of this wilderness is barren rock, grass, and water. The remaining 60% is forested lands. Most of the present day scenery was created by glacial periods, the last of which was 10,000 years ago. The U-shaped valleys, cirques, horn-shaped peaks, and other glacial features account for much of the rugged mountain scenery.
We will access the Continental Divide Trail using Vallecito Creek and Rock Creek, hike over Gunsight Pass (12,360 foot), and then return to our cars down the Pine River drainage. The planned hiking mileage is shorter some days to allow time for bird-watching, photographing, group socializing, and dayhiking the many side trails we will pass. If time and ambition allow, we may also dayhike to Weminuche Pass for the views. This trip is rated strenuous (S).
Originates @ Durango, CO.

Flint Pass

Pine Creek Trail

Trip Report:

After stopping in at the San Juan National Forest Ranger Station, we had some concerns about being able to hike anywhere close to our planned route in the Weminuche. This year's 250% of normal snow load combined with a late, cold spring left most of the passes snowed in well into July. The forest service had done an aerial reconnaissance but hadn't actually been up in the high country and had no reports of hikers making it over the passes. Every loop we asked about sounded unlikely and even the hot springs in the eastern Weminuche were under water. Where deep snow wasn't a problem, swollen rivers and streams reportedly made crossings difficult to impossible. Loaded with these horror stories, the two of us made our way to the Vallecito Campground to meet the rest of the group.

Everyone showed up that evening and we discussed the weather and snow problems. It was decided that we would travel up Pine Creek drainage, check out some of the dayhikes, and decide later depending on the weather and reports from other hikers whether or not we'd attempt a 12,000' pass crossing to the Vallecito drainage. The weather was clear and fairly warm the first day, but we got hit with a thunderstorm, complete with hail, at noon on the second day. It drizzled on and off all of the third day. Luckily by then we had set up a base camp and were able to hide out under our tarp. In between rain storms we dayhiked to Divide Lakes and Granite Lake. We gathered several reports from other hikers about snow in the passes and decided to assault the Flint Creek to Rock Creek Pass. It featured a shorter hiking distance at high elevation than our original plan and allowed us to camp lower the night before and after. We had little trouble negotiating an avalanche of trees that covered a short section of trail on the way up and ate our lunch at the pass with beautiful 360 degree views. On the way down, we had to cross about a half dozen short snow fields with Glacier Lilies pushing up through the edges. Our weather was clear that day and stayed pretty clear for the rest of the trip. Afternoon thunderheads welled up daily but didn't release much or stay long.

Though it was chilly for desert rats, the flowers thought it was warm enough. There was a fantastic assortment of blooms. None of us had a flower book along but we recognized a lot of them from trips in Canada and the Pacific Northwest. The highlights were meadows of marsh marigolds, purple onion, and irises. Occasionally we spotted enormous lavender columbine, the Colorado state flower, and vibrant red lilies.

We encountered many small groups of hikers but only one large one. The horse packers were just beginning to establish their summer camps, so we didn't run across many of them. The hiking was surprisingly easy and we had lots of time in camp for laundry and card games. The games started with the ever popular Hearts and advanced to Euchre and Pinochle. We had campfires every night which allowed us to burn our trash instead of carrying it. We left each campsite cleaner than we found it and carried out a lot of tinfoil. The fires also came in handy for drying laundry, although we singed at least one pair of socks.

No bear visited our camps but we did have a few deer and rabbit on occasion. We also saw grouse, ptarmigan, and several fat marmots. Susan's new freeze-dried meal of turkey with stuffing, potatoes, and cranberry sauce was a big hit. We ate almost everything we brought with us because of the colder climate.

Report of more recent Weminuche backpacking trips from our quarterly newsletters:

* August 4, 2001

* July 19, 1998