Carson Saddle, CO Segment 23  Carson Saddle to Rio Grande Reservoir Road

August 12, 2004. Today, we left work early to make the drive to Montrose, Colorado. We are staying overnight in Montrose and will get up early tomorrow to park the vehicles and start our hike. We are at the Days Inn and thought Tim and Jill were at the Best Western across the street. Somehow, they switched hotels and we didn’t get the word. When we arrived, Carol called the Best Western and they said they did not have a reservation for Trofholz and perhaps they were staying in Delta. This got us worried as we had mentioned Delta early on in our planning. There was nothing to do but wait and after a while they called us from the Holiday Inn. They had never booked the Best Western; it was just one they had mentioned they were looking at. We are at different motels because they had to find one that accommodated dogs. Chevy is an integral part of our hiking team. We eat at a nice Italian/Mexican restaurant and the food was very good. We will meet tomorrow at the Holiday Inn for Breakfast and try to be on the road around 7:00 A.M.

August 13, 2004. “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Natures peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” John Muir

View From Carson Saddle

We start the day off with a pretty good breakfast of crepes, eggs, and cinnamon rolls. We leave on time and drive down Highway 550 towards Ouray and Molas Pass. At Ouray, the road starts a series of winding switchbacks as it climbs Red Mountain Pass. It is rather slow going, but we don’t mind, as the scenery is breathtaking. Down the other side, we pass Silverton, and head up to Molas Pass. Molas Pass is the end of Segment 24 and our planned destination for the first backpacking adventure of this week long trip. However, when we get to the pass, we do not see the trail head. We follow the GPS and it points just off the road near the pass. The problem is that there is no parking except on the shoulder of Highway 550, and we do not feel comfortable leaving a vehicle here for 3 days. We follow the guidebook directions for parking, but it is about a mile off the trail and in a direction that would add unnecessary miles. After looking over the maps, we decide to try to find parking at Little Molas Lake, about a mile or so into Segment 25. We follow a dirt road to the lake and find a remote place to park right next to the trail as it crosses a 4WD road.

Carol at Carson Saddle

The drop off of the Explorer being solved, we now have to drive over Cinnamon Pass and beyond to the Carson Saddle Trail Head. This is a mostly 4WD road and we don’t know how long it will take. It is only about 30 miles or so from Silverton. As we speed down Highway 550 toward Silverton, Tim rounds a bend and a motorcycle cop finishing up a ticket, motions for him to slow down. The speed limit is about 15 and we are doing about 45. Or at least that is what it must have appeared like we were doing, to a cop standing by the road. We slow down until we reach the turnoff to Silverton. Just before we reach the ghost town of Animas Forks, we take the turnoff for Cinnamon Pass. It starts out a little rough and then is not too bad as we reach the top of the pass. Going down the other side, there are a few switchbacks that cause Tim to make three (maybe 4) point turns to navigate them. We then follow the road along the ledge of a canyon, and after that look for the turnoff up Wager Gulch and Carson Saddle. From the turnoff, it is 5 miles up another 4WD road. The going is slow but sure, as we gain altitude , and pass the old town site of Carson. We finally reach the top of the saddle, park, and settle down to eat lunch, as it is now almost noon. These roads can’t be rushed and the whole trip to this point has taken almost 5 hours. But, we are here and excited to get going. Of course, lunch and fuel for our bodies must come first. I almost forgot to mention that we are well above tree line, as the starting point for this segment is 12, 360 feet high. The trail awaits and we take a few pictures before putting on our packs. Once they are on, it is time to begin our San Juan adventure.

Trail Towards Carol Pass

We descend slightly on a jeep road for the first half-mile. We then descend further, down to 12,000 feet over the next mile. We do this so that we can climb over 900 feet in the next two miles, to an unnamed pass. I think I will name it Carol Pass in honor of my lovely wife. As we start our slow climb, we have beautiful tundra views of the Lost Trail Creek Valley below and the pass we have yet to climb. We continue to hike above the valley. There are ashen volcanic looking cliffs on the other side of the valley. As usual, Tim and Jill are ahead of us, and as we stop to catch our breaths, I observe a shape in the valley below. As I keep an eye on the shape, it starts to move. We soon recognize it to be a bull moose feeding on the willows by the creek below. We than observe another moose lying nearby. We try to get Tim and Jills attention but they are too far ahead to hear. I guess lagging behind can sometimes pay off.

Carol Resting on Her Newly Named Pass

As we approach the pass, the trail starts to switchback past some interesting goblin like rock formations. We soon top out at our new high point for the trail of 12,920 feet. We started hiking at 12:15 P.M. and reached the top of the pass at 2:35 P.M. We have our first 3.87 miles behind us and our moving average was 2.3 miles per hour. This is a good start for a climb at high altitude with full packs. More important, everybody seems to be doing fine. It is now time for a snack break to enjoy the fruits of our labor and savor the view. As we start out again, we hike across open high alpine tundra with ever expanding views. The day has turned out to be beautiful and sunny with a few scattered clouds.

Head of Cataract Gulch

A series of cliffs come into view as we approach the head of Cataract Gulch. At about the five-mile mark, we can look down at Cataract Lake below us. There is a trail going towards it, but we continue south-southwest towards the headwaters of Pole Creek. We enter into a broad valley with ashen volcanic looking cliffs on one side and high hills around us. My pack has been bothering me so Tim stops to help adjust it, as the girls continue on ahead. We try shifting the weight and several different adjustments. Nothing seems to help much. The problem is I can’t seem to get the weight off my shoulders. Tightening the hip belt helps for a while but it doesn’t last. We do the best we can and start on again. We meander through the open valley with Pole Creek beside us. At the end of the valley, we come to a V-shaped gap where we have to cross Pole Creek. It was advertised as a long deep ford. We have carried water shoes for this and a Rio Grande crossing later on. We manage to rock hop across here with no need to change shoes. A half hour later, and we come to another advertised deep ford of Pole Creek. This one is a little tougher with some marshy areas on both sides, but we still manage to keep our feet dry without changing shoes. I am not moving very fast as my pack hurts and soon Tim and Jill pull ahead and are up in front again.

Close Up Of Pole Creek Falls

I hear water rushing, off the trail, and take a detour to look. It is a worthwhile short jaunt as I have blindly discovered Pole Creek Falls. It drops though a series of eroded rocks below us. Slightly upstream from the falls, we can see an arch that was carved out, and the creek running beneath it. None of this carved area is visible from the trail, yet is only 100 yards or so off the trail. We hike on and start to look for our planned campsite near the 10-mile mark. Only one problem, Who let the cows out? so we continue on. We pass a descent campsite, but with coaxing from Tim, we believe there is a better one, a little further up the trail. This again would have held true, if not for a new herd of cows. My pack is killing me and I tell them I will need to stop soon. It become s obvious that we aren’t going to totally escape the cows, so we decide on a site where we have to cross the river. It appears that there have been no cows on that side and there are none in the immediate vicinity. It is not an easy crossing, and Carol dunks her boots, while trying to cross. This does not make her happy, as she is not wearing her Gore Tex waterproof boots, and some water gets to her socks. Carol gets out of her wet shoes as we set up camp. We have dinner and then settle in with the sounds of the creek lulling us to a good nights sleep. It has been a long day between the drive and hike. We also went almost 2 miles further than we had planned, and stopped at 7:15P.M. Our distance for the day was 11.9 miles. Our moving average was 2.6 miles per hour and our overall average was 1.6 miles per hour. Our high point for the day was 12,920 feet.