Windom Peak

We took the weekend after the fourth of July to go to Chicago Basin in Western Colorado and try to summit the three fourteeners in the area. We left Thursday night and drove to Durango - about six hours - and stayed in a motel. Then Friday morning we got up early and had breakfast before boarding the train and taking the Durango-Silverton railroad into San Juan National Forrest. The track is a narrow gauge railroad, and has been in operation for about 125 years. It winds along the Animas river and goes into the mountains and the Wiminuchee Wilderness where there are still no accesable automobile roads. At some points the room for the track was carved out of the mountain, and the train is basically traveling on a ledge overlooking the river.

The train stops once in the middle of nowhere to let backpackers off and on. Once you get off the train, you cross an old wooden bridge - which is being replaced in the fall of 2006 - over the Animas river to the east side where the Chicago Basin is. Then its about half a mile to the trailhead, and then a grueling six and a half miles up the valley following Needle Creek toward the basin. We met alot of hikers and backpackers as we made our way up the valley. Many of them were on their way down, and a few were going up like we were. There are some pics to the right of the hike up. Much to our dissapointment, it started raining at the trailhead and drizzled on us all afternoon as we hiked up and tried to find a camping spot.

We finally made it up to the basin and found a pretty good camping spot that would allow us to get a good start on a fourteener in the morning. Camping spots are a little difficult to find, especially on a peak weekend in the middle of the summer. We found a good one that was not restricted and was a sufficient distance from Needle Creek. We also had a good large rock surface for cooking and drying our clothes in the sun. It rained off and on all weekend, but we made the most of it by getting up early and starting out for Windom Peak Saturday morning, planning to go on to Sunlight peak later that day. With the low visability and vauge directions, we made our way up the steep incline to the Twin Lakes area. Once there, we should have been able to see the mountain, but all we could see were clouds. We continued on and had a difficult time finding trails, until we got to the saddle and realized that we were on the saddle to the east of Windom instead of the saddle to the west where the class 2 trail was. Not to worry, there was a class 4 trail that led to the summit from where we were. Class 4 climbing is difficult enough, but add in visibility of about 30 ft and a drizzling rain that is keeping the rocks wet and slippery, and it made it a sufficient challenge.

We finally made it to the summit, although I was just going up without being able to see anything until I ran out of mountain and realized I was at the top. Luckily there was a USGS marker at the top, or we might not have been sure we were there. We made our way down and met some people that had been up Sulnlight, but they had not made the last 30 ft to the summit because it is a very difficult move on slick wet rock. Hearing this, we decided to head on back to camp and try for better weather on Sunday. We were hoping the weather would clear up and we would be able to get an early start and summit both Sunlight and Eolus on Sunday. We made it back to camp by early afternoon and the sun came out for the only few hours of the whole weekend. It was enough for us to dry out all our clothes and cook a good meal and get in the tent just about the time it started raining. We had pasta and tunafish along with a summer suasage and some fig newtons - not bad for a camp meal.

We had been warned to find a spot away from our campsite to urinate since the mountain goats were very interested in the salt. We were also told to make sure and use a rock surface because if you go in the bushes, the goats will destroy the vegitation to get the salt. We were made aware of this Saturday afternoon as several families of goats came to inspect our 'pee-spot'. After dinner they came in droves, at one point I counted 26 goats near our campsite. There were many little ones too, so we took lots of pictures. Even a few marmots came out, and one of them was competing with the goats for the salt. There are some good shots at the right. We labeled that afternoon 'GoatFest 2006'

The next morning it was still raining and we decided not to try for the other two mountains since we had to be back down to catch the train in the afternoon and the tought of hiking in the rain all day with a strict deadline was not very appealing. So we took our time and had breakfast and broke camp and headed back down the mountain to the river. We got there a few hours early and had time to have some lunch and hang out around the river and the bridge as other hikers came out of the woods one group at a time. The train came along right on time and we boarded and snagged a few beers from the bar-car on the way back to Durango. We ahd a good time on the trip back trading stories with other hikers about their adventures in the basin on this misserable weekend. Its about a two and a half hour ride, so we had plenty of time to relax.

Probably the worst part of the trip was the six hour drive home Sunday evening, but we made it in good time. We will have to go back next year and try the other two mountains, at least this time we have a good idea where we are going and how long everything takes.