TRIP REPORT: Chicago Basin/Windom Peak, CO 7/4/96 - 7/7/96
Thursday, July 4th:
After climbing Mt. Sneffels, me and the SO looked forward to getting into Durango for a shower and a hot meal. US550 between Ouray and Durango is one of the most scenic paved roads I've been on, so the miles flew by as I watched in awe. We ran into a few storms on the way, but the weather was warm and pleasant by the time we reached Durango.
We checked into a nice, though somewhat touristy, B&B, showered, and then enjoyed a very spicy Chinese dinner (me more than my SO). We had tickets for the train at 8:30 AM the next morning, so we watched a so-so fireworks show and then headed back to the B&B and got our gear all together. Sleep came easily that night.
Friday, July 5th:
We woke up early the next morning, and I chowed down on a generous breakfast. The owner of the B&B let us park our car there over the weekend saving us a few bucks. We walked the two blocks from the B&B to the Durango&Silverton Narrow Guage R&R Station wearing our packs and got some strange looks from people in town. They loaded our packs into a small box car at the front of the train and we took our seats. The train left pretty much on schedule and slowly made its way north along the Animas River toward Silverton. The old steam locomotives are impressive, but I found the train ride itself to be somewhat slow and boring. Needleton is the stop for people hiking into Chicago Basin and it took over 2 hours to get there (I think its faster and cheaper to come from Silverton, but you get to Needleton much later in the day). It's kind of a strange feeling when the train pulls away with the tourists looking at you as if you are insane. Hope I didn't forget anything important.
After getting our gear all together, we were on the trail at about 11:00 AM. There's a nice foot bridge across the Animas River and then the trail is flat for about half a mile across private property. The trail then enters the Weminuche Wilderness (largest Wilderness in Colorado) and starts up Needle Creek. The trail is in excellent condition and has a pretty constant grade (No real steep sections, but not many flat one's either). Needle Creek is beautiful with many chutes and waterfalls and it was enhanced even more by the strong runoff that was occurring.
We only encountered a few people on the trail which was surprising for this time of year. A thunder storm dumped rain and hail on us just before we entered Chicago Basin. The thunder storm was short lived and we reached the lower end of Chicago Basin around 3:00 PM and continued to push on toward the upper end. Chicago Basin turned out to be everything advertised. High mountains and waterfalls all around with wildflowers adding color to the whole scene. Mt. Eolus rose to the left of us and we could see Windom's summit at the end of the basin. There were numerous tents already in the basin, but after chatting with the ranger and looking around, we found a so-so campsite on the south side of Needle Creek. By the time we got camp set up, it was getting late and I was tired. After dinner, we went to sleep in order to get rested up for climbing the peaks tomorrow.
Saturday, July 6th:
We got up a little late this morning and quickly wolfed down a pop-tart breakfast. The plan was to climb Windom and Sunlight Peaks and we were on the trail around 6:30 AM. The first leg of this hike is the steep climb up to Twin Lakes. Here, you gain about 1400 ft. of elevation in a mile hiking past a beautiful series of waterfalls. The wild flowers mixed with the waterfalls and a beautiful sunrise all contributed to a scene of incredible beauty. Truly, God's Country.
We reached Twin Lakes around 7:30 AM. There were a few tents around Twin Lakes, but I would advise against camping there due to marmots. Snow around Twin Lakes and the Peaks was minimal for this time of year. We met up with a lone climber at Twin Lakes and we decided to try Windom Peak first. He had climbed Eolus the day before and was now trying to get Windom and Sunlight. We climbed up above Twin Lakes into the basin between Windom and Sunlight on a good trail and then made our way up a talus slope into the saddle between Windom and Peak 18. The climb up Windom's west ridge starts out as talus hiking, but quickly becomes a some very fun bouldering. The route is pretty well cairned with only a few places you have to find your own way. I don't know whether to call it Class 2+ or Class 3, but it is enjoyable and the exposure is limited. Windom's summit is quite a curious thing, with huge, rectangular granite boulders stacked up in such a way that they almost look man-made.
The climb to Windom's summit seemed to go quickly, but it was already 10:00 AM when we got there. We signed the summit register and worked our way back to the saddle between Windom and Peak 18 (No easy way over to Sunlight that I could see). At this point, it was almost 11:00 AM and I could see the clouds thickening up. I also had a nice headache going and I wondered if it might be a little altitude sickness. Me and my SO decided to scratch our plans to do Sunlight Peak and we headed back down to Twin Lakes. At Twin Lakes, we encountered a large group of mountain goats complete with babies. They weren't the least bit scared of people and we got some nice pictures (I hope). We then headed back down into Chicago Basin. The decision not to do Sunlight was probably the right one since the storms came early this day.
We debated whether to stay an extra day, but work and school were calling. Oh well, we would just have to return to this place in the future. We spent the rest of the day exploring around camp, eating dinner, and enjoying the great scenery.
Sunday, July 7th:
We got up later today and took a long time break camp and pack everything up. We gave ourselves plenty of time to get back to the train, but the downhill backpack went even quicker than we anticipated. We were back at Needleton by around 12:30 PM and now had a four hour wait for the train (Doh!). We entertained ourselves until the storms came in the afternoon. The train conductor must of been worried that there were too many hikers (there were about 50 waiting to catch the train), because an earlier than scheduled train stopped and picked up about half the hikers including us.
The ride back was slow and uneventful. We didn't get back on the road to Colorado Springs until 6:30 PM. After a good Chinese dinner in Pagosa Springs, we finally got home a little after midnight. All in all, a very enjoyable vacation. Just wish we had more time (but isn't that always the story).
-Tom Stats: RTD - Needleton to Chicago Basin: 13 miles Elevation gain - Needleton to Chicago Basin: 3000 ft. RTD - Chicago Basin to Windom: 4 miles Elevation gain - Chicago Basin to Windom: 2900 ft.