Elk Creek Gorge, CO High Camp by Old Mining Cabin to Animas River

Good Morning Marmot at Camp

August 15, 2004. Although our camp was higher than the night before, (over 12,000 feet) we did not wake up to any frost. In fact, it was noticeably warmer here than the first night. Temperature got down to about 40 degrees and we were toasty warm in our down sleeping bags. Before we get out of the tent, Carol had to administer some first aid. On top of my pack bothering me, the steep downhill at the end of yesterday helped a nice blood blister form on my fourth toe. I also have another blister forming on a separate toe. She applied some moleskin and Band-Aids and we will see how that holds up. When we get out to make breakfast, we are serenaded by a large, size of a dog, marmot, whistling from the top of a rock ridge. Soon thereafter, a reply is sent from some rocks right near our tent. This went on for quite a while and I manage to get a good picture of the closer marmot. What do we have for breakfast, you might ask. Well, after the last hike and the legend of Souper Tim, we have soup. Warm and filling, it hits the spot.

Carol Starting Down Steep Narrow Elk Creek Canyon

We begin our hike today with a steep descent in the Elk Creek Gorge. We get started just after 10:00 A.M. and are looking forward to a fairly short distance of hiking. The trail hugs the cliffs in spots, and it is a tough steep downhill for me, as the blisters on my toes are a bit tender. Although painful at times, it is a bearable pain, and besides nobody has volunteered to carry me, so I walk on. We pass groups of Columbine, the state flower, as we crisscross Elk Creek several times. At this point, Elk Creek is only two to three feet wide, because we are near its headwaters. We pass several waterfalls cascading down the cliffs beside us as we continue down. We come to a section where the trail is real rocky as we cross a talus slope. We start to be treated to views of Peak Three and the Trinity peaks to our south.

Pika Closeup

We pause on another talus slope where we hear the short shrill whistle of some Pikas. These animals look like an overgrown mouse that fooled around with a rabbit. I take several pictures of them in hopes one comes out well (It did). We eventually pass tree line and enter into a spruce forest. Continuing down, we once again get closer to Elk Creek, which had previously plunged deep down into the valley. The wild flowers increase in numbers with the added moisture nearby. There are several large spots in the creek, which Carol mistook for snow. It looks like it is snow and ice, but in reality it is white rock, probably limestone. As we hike on, it is starting to cloud up and we may be getting our first threat of rain on this hike. We continue descending and the trees start to change to fir and aspen. The rain does come and we stop sporadically under trees, to stay dry, while we decide if it is worth it to stop and put the anti-rain gear on. It starts to come down harder so we get out our gear. This once again ensures that a short while later it stops raining. In this case, however it did rain hard, although not long, so it was worth it to stay dry.

Trailside Pond with Vestal and Arrow Peaks in Back

We stop near a pond with views of Arrow and Vestal peaks. The trail starts to level off as we walk beside the creek and start to get near our planned camp for the night. We are looking for a camp with water that was listed at mile 15.3 in the guidebook. We already know that the mileage is off as the trail has been longer than the advertised mileage. I think there was some rerouting done on the continental divide section we hiked yesterday. Calculating in the extra mileage, we close in on the campsite, only to find that the book is not even close in its claim of water at this spot. We have hiked away from the creek and there is nothing resembling a water source close by. I see a sign nearby and check it out. It is the Weminuche Wilderness boundary sign that confirms we are in the right spot. So all we can conclude after a search of the area, and looking at the map, is that the book is full of **** in regards to this camp spot having water. We look over the map and our water situation and decide to hike on and look for a more suitable site up ahead. Worst case we will stop and hopefully find a nice spot by the Animas River.

Animas River with Prominent Peak Fourteen

We hike on and eventually can see the Animas River below. We hear a train whistle and catch a glimpse of the Durango/Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Train heading back to Durango. Soon, we cross the railroad tracks and find a great campsite right by the river. Sometimes fate rewards you when your original plans don’t work. It looks like it might rain so we pick a spot and start to set up our tent right away. Once that is done, we enjoy the beautiful scenery around us. I get some great pictures of the river with the Grenadier Range as a backdrop. My toes are hurting from the blisters and I put on sandals and soak them in the cold river. Feels good for the Sole too! As we think about cooking dinner, I notice movement just to our left. A deer is grazing no more than 20 feet from us. The dog, which is starting to have problems of his own, does not even notice. We leave the deer to its feeding, as we start to tend to ours.

Home For the Night

A nice meal tonight consists of High Country Honey Lime Chicken. Even better, is that we have dessert, freeze dried chocolate mousse. It is really good and a well-deserved treat. The clouds pass by and we enjoy a campfire, before retiring. Tomorrow we will hike out to the truck. Today, we started at 10:05 A.M. and stopped here at 3:30 P.M. The high point was last nights camp at 12,080 feet. The low point is tonights camp at 8,920 feet. Total ascent was a whopping 191 feet. All the downhill today was easy on the lungs, but was not good for my blisters. We hiked 8.62 total miles. Our moving average was 2.5 miles per hour and our overall average was 1.7 miles per hour. Good night. Oops, I almost forgot about poor Chevy. Chevy, the intrepid Hiking Black Lab started limping today. He is slow getting started and is obviously not faring well on this hike. They have cleaned his paws several times but no real help. Hopefully, he will be better tomorrow. Good night again.