Last year at the end of hiking season David and I had a goal to summit Sunlight, Windom and Eolus combo for this upcoming season. These are three really tough (class 3 and 4) 14er's and they are far away. There are a few ways to get to the trailhead. One is to get to Durango...6 hours from where I live, and pay $100 per person including your pack and get dropped off 6 miles from a campsite by train OR park 27 miles outside of Durango and hike in 14.5 miles to camp. Then from camp you hike a few miles to Twin Lakes and start to hike one of the three tough 14er's. Well, we decided we didn't want to pay and we heard from others that those first 8 miles are a gorgeous part of Colorado.
We left Thursday and drove to Durango. We stayed in a great, yet cheap motel. Friday we headed to the trailhead.
We were hiking by 8:15am on Friday. It was gorgeous!! Although with a pack it sucks a little. I wish I just had a camel-back. That is my only complaint :)
It rained a little but it actually was nice hiking in 14.5 miles with the cloud coverage. The last mile was tough. David was beat since his pack was heavier and by now it was pouring. We hooked up with a group of three guys also camping and they had room at their campsite. So we set up camp. Those last 5 miles were tough. If we took the train that is all we would have seen. I loved the 9 miles before along the Animas and we saw the train a few times and waved :)
Saturday we woke up to clouds. We left camp at 6:15 am and hiked all three! Sunlight, which at the top was cloudy and it was thundering. The rocks were buzzing.
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| Almost to Sunlight |
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| A gorgeous rainbow came out afterwards! |
Then we waited it out and went over to Windom. Windom was OK I didn't like all those rocks. Headed back to Twin Lakes and up to Eolus. That was the hardest one for me but the most fun! Got back to camp about 6pm so a LONG day!
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| On the sidewalk in the sky heading toward Eolus. |
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| I climbed up that! |
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| At the summit of Eolus. |
42 miles with everything in 3 days! I am sore but it was worth it!
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| Our campsite |
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| Hike back to the car! |
You almost make me want to become a hiker..but I hear there are snakes on hikes..lol Looks like you had a great time!
ReplyDeleteThese are incredible photos! What an awesome weekend - I'd love to hike out there one day.
ReplyDeleteI think you are ready for an Ultra!! lol
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