elk park train stop to needleton

Farther downstream revealed a tall but tiny waterfall before the land leveled out near the lake. I was awestruck with the beauty of those mountains. The names of surrounding landmarks included Stormy Gulch and Storm King Peak, and now I understood why. I couldnt see the mountains behind me at all now, they were lost in the clouds. Without going closer, theres no way of knowing what the rest of it looked like. Most were quick to check out the shack as we did, so the cinder block and wood plank benches filled up fast. They were finally able to scare the goats away for good by barking at them like a dog. Elk Park flag stop to Needleton flag stop between Durango and Silverton Elk Park flag stop to Needleton flag stop between Durango and Silverton. But if you need an even warmer quilt, weve heard very good things about the quilts from Enlightened Equipment. Early morning at the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad station. Generally considered a challenging route, it takes an average of 5 h 9 min to complete. Follow along to join me on my next adventure-- in food or on the road. The first morning of a hike always takes the longest to get going. By the time Lisa made it to the top, we had to continue down the other side immediately. At the bridge over New York Creek, there was a waterfall right there along the trail.. Animas River, from the bridge at the Needleton train stop. Highly recommend! Other hikers trickled in to the area as time went on. Carrying a backpack downhill has wreaked havoc on my knees on my last few hikes, but I was spared this time. Thanks for your support you ROCK!. Miles Hiked 5.7 (summit Windom Peak starting from camp in Chicago Basin) After all, it was Saturday evening. Your email address will not be published. This snowshoe hare looks as if it could shoot lasers from its eyes, Campsite along the Elk Park trail, around 10,300ft. Try this 60.4-km point-to-point trail near Silverton, Colorado. Most of our clothing was wet, including our backpacks and other gear, so we finally had a chance to dry them out some. He sure did look delicious, haha. Also, if youre looking for a GPX file, you can download that here http://metalbackpacker.com/gpx-files/. Youre hiking at high elevation in a very sunny spot, so protecting your eyes is important. Hey Trey, Its been many years since I did this hike so pardon my memory here. This is where Eldorado Lake drains off the mountainside and down to the Miners Cabin area we passed earlier today, Looking up at 13,627ft White Dome from the Eldorado Lake drainage. Morning of day 2, climbing up the Colorado Trail, Going up a funky section of the Colorado Trail, below the Miners Cabin. What a place for a cabin! They watched as I hiked right past them, which I did after taking a few pictures. With about five minutes to go before arriving at Elk Park, one of conductors gather all of the backpackers and ask you to head to the front of the train. I couldnt resist the chance to whip out my Klymit Inertia X-Frame sleeping pad that I bought a few months back. Yes, either hiking boots or hiking shoes are a very good idea on these trails. It was filed under Backpacking Trip Reports and was tagged with backpacking trip report, cdt, chicago basin, colorado backpacking, colorado hikes, colorado photography, colorado summer hikes, colorado trail, continental divide, durango train, eldorado lake, elk park needleton, hiking 2013, loop hike, mountain photography, multi day hikes, san juan, san juan mountains, san juan national forest, weeklong loop hike, weminuche wilderness, windom peak. Any way to access this trail without riding the train? Cachanilla83. First week of June, the only people out there will probably be CDT thru hikers, and theyll be up against a lot of snow still. Very nice trip report! Interesting views in the upper Chicago Basin area. Many jokes were cracked regarding the stench of ones self or others in their group. I took advantage of the weather and took a ton of pictures up here. Nine miles long, the route climbs 3,760 feet to the Continental Divide. Thanks for sharing. I modified my workout regimen before this hike to try and strengthen certain parts of the leg muscles that support the knee function, some intense stair climb sessions (45lb pack), as well as doing a lot more stretching. Especially considering the status of cell phone service (which well discuss below). Our total distance was about 42 miles. In fact, there wasnt a single cloud in sight now, just a beautiful deep blue sky in all directions. Obviously I skipped this route on our way up here, opting to go the traditional way up the switchbacks to the CDT, but I was curious if it was doable. We settled for this spot and set up camp by 4pm or so. Our dehydrated meals said they were tested at 5,000-foot elevation, and to double the cook time for every additional 5,000 feet. If you found my trip report useful, please dont hesitate to leave a comment! Not once did we get wet crossing a stream. He had camped in this area, not by Eldorado, and thus had left the trail to set up his camp. You would think that they would just find another place to hang out with no people nearby, but they kept trying to make their way down to our area. The clouds seemed to be chasing us up Hunchback Pass. There were tons of waterfalls everywhere, many more than our hike in the Maroon Bells last year. Its easy to explore the Colorado wilderness from the Durango train. Vallecito Basin, which lies below Columbine pass, was pretty nice. Soon enough it was back to the rain. It's mainly visited for hikers departing on overnight backpacking trips into Chicago Basin. This is the "fourth bridge" of vallecito creek, north of the vallecito campground/Trailhead. We followed Bear Creek down to the Rio Grande by following the 4wd road and used our sat phone to arrange for transportation to Silverton. I decided to take pictures of the lake later and just head up Windom now. After 3 hours, we were finally back in Durango. I missed the shortcut from Eldorado Lake to Hunchback pass , many years ago.Im headed there in 2 wks and hoping to find itAny suggestions, This time I will have a GPS when looking from Hunchback pass I was pretty sure I could see a trail to Eldorado Lake , but wasnt positive so I didnt give it a try. Lisa made it up 15 minutes later, but we didnt stick around too long. Prepare to not have a cell signal. We got to the train stop at noon and the train picked us up at 3pm. By the time we were leaving the treeline behind, foul weather had returned. This satellite powered device is able to track your location on a digital map, share your location with friends/family, send basic text messages, and (most importantly) it has an emergency SOS button to get help. Really, it shouldnt be called a creek, but a river instead. Thankfully, we never needed to press the SOS button, but I was thrilled with the functionality of the map and messaging features. Down to Eldorado. Overall a pretty remote and isolated trail with beautiful scenery, clean water everywhere and pristine nature. I headed up and made good time moving through here as it was pretty easy. Recommended Posts. Creating new thru-hiking routes & guides, hiking videos, outdoor documentaries, backpacking trip reports, trail journals, photos and more! You then pass over the continental divide twice and the train picks you back up. I didnt want to go crazy on day 1 anyways, so it worked out that it was a shorter day. Before I knew it though, I was was past the steeper summit section and back down to a more obvious trail. We got to the train station around 7:15am, as we were told to be there 45 minutes early. We used a Sawyer Squeeze water filter. I used a Deuter Kids 40 pack (it has an adjustable torso section for short people!) Just import my GPX file and then you can print it out. We headed down towards Kite, watching as the fog grew more and more around us. Needleton, Colorado - Activities and Events | San Juan County Fortunately it was all downhill, so we could cover some serious ground, which I assumed would be at the expense of my knees. The rain subsided and we dipped below the clouds into a new valley. Maybe not a traditional campsite, but it was by far the driest campsite Id seen on this trip yet. Are you planning a backpacking adventure in the Weminuche Wilderness of southern Colorado? We stayed up a little later tonight due to the fire, and ended up going to bed around 11pm. On the train, make sure to talk to the train staff! Discover this 6.9-mile out-and-back trail near Silverton, Colorado. Preparing for Elk Park to Needleton Loop - Champagne Tastes Also, because I sunburn easily, I brought UV protective shirts (the BALEAF womens UPF50 quick-dry shirt). Absolute Best 5-7 Day Backpacking Trip ID,MT, or WY Down from the pass, we still had a good 10 miles to cover today. Not long after, we watched the same goats cross the creek and head towards our general area. To board at a flagstop, you must be on the east side of the tracks. FIND YOUR WAY OUTSIDE is a trademark of AllTrails, LLC. We were on the trail at 7:30, and saw a few more goats as we made our way out of Chicago Basin. Also, A creek ran through the area and created an interesting looking gorge that I wish I had more time to check out, but we really wanted to get to camp right now. The altitude will affect water filters and food cook time, which is usually explained on the packaging. I took the driest looking campsite I could find, which wasnt saying much. Weminuche Wilderness Trails - Durango Trails I feel like my extra efforts in training before this trip really made the difference in my knees. Then, we saw 2 mountain goats on the other side of Needle Creek that had just walked into someones camp. Passing through a colorful meadow on the morning of day 2, Nearing the treeline, the views start improving. I found nothing that was going to be snow free and chose the Gila. The best times to visit this trail are May through September. Thanks for the trip report, I had originally planned just on Chicago Basin but will now do the whole loop after seeing your report and talking to the forest service rangers. One guy stopped and said Whoa, what are you doing going up that? Would that be too early in the season? I've begun planning my adventures for this summer, and while there will be a handful of overnighters and long weekends, I've settled on the Elk Park-Needleton Loop for my main trip. Excellent views all around. Chicago Basin area was very pretty, and not too crowded with tents. The free version of caltopo only allows 5 pages max in your pdf, so just break it up into blocks of 5 pages or less and print out the entire map that way. Or some come at it from the opposite (Needleton) end, via Purgatory Flats Trail and the Animas River Trail (about 10 miles). There were no beavers. To my amazement, the sky was 100% clear when I woke up at 5:30 this morning. We had a lot of rain, starting everyday around 1 pm and lasting for a couple of hours. Making reservations to ride the train to the wilderness is easy. My boots were the driest theyd been since day 1, and I really didnt want to get stuck in rain today. At Twin Lakes, the terrain is a bit less hospitable, and fewer campsite options with all the rocks and stuff. The times we've done this, the train departed Silverton about 2:45 PM and dropped us of by 3:45 PM. The mountain scenery is spectacular the whole way, and you cross over several high passes along the way. Mojave-Sonoran Trail (2021) What a morale booster it was. On the trail by 7am today, we headed up to the CDT once again. Now back on the trail, we started gaining elevation en route to Hunchback Pass. Maybe, MAYBE in a low snow year but from what I can tell the west is getting quite a bit of powder this year so my guess would be July before the route is fully snow free. (We didnt see any, but we heard they were plentiful.). There were also a lot of flowers alongside the trail, and there were tons of butterflies on them. Although it was monsoon season during our trip, we were told that the coal cinders often start forest fires. Things open up a bit after this pond and there are some meadows to camp in if you were so inclined. The water is gorgeous. Route Elk Park train stop to camp along Elk Creek at ~10,300ft. Im assuming forest service will clear this soon. I just forwarded the link so he get get psyched up! Campsite in Chicago Basin for nights 4 and 5. Youll be hiking in a wilderness area. Im taking a group on essentially this same trip in a couple weeks, and your pictures and story are very inspiring. I can use train but according to DSNGRR schedule, their trains stops EITHER in Needlton OR in Elk Park, but not in BOTH. Our lunch spot today was next to a waterfall. Im interesting in making this same trip this year, and was wondering if you knew when the optimal season is? This cabin would be a good place to wait out a storm, but its not suitable as an overnight shelter due to its condition. Im considering doing this loop this summer and you have really helped! Its an extra 9 miles I believe from Purgatory to Needleton. I did this loop in Late August in the mid 90s and must have gotten a lucky dry weather window. This was a pizza by the slice kind of place, and the slices were enormous! On day three, we made our way up and over the Continental Divide and into the beautiful meadow just below Hunchback Pass. At that point, one of our trek members sustained a significant ankle injury. Strider1. The Weminuche Loop is a classic 40-50 mile horseshoe hike that starts at Elk Park and ends at Needleton. They were all well marked but took extra time to navigate. The Needleton stop also gives you access to the Needle Creek Trail, Johnson Creek Trail and the Chicago Basin. I was mainly happy to dry out my boots. Really helpful report! The fourth day we hiked from Chicago basin to the needleton train stop, which was an easy ~7 miles downhill. I only saw a steep trail consisting of loose rock. If I recall correctly we did it in 6 nights. Check out this 17.3-mile out-and-back trail near Durango, Colorado. Definitely recommend to bring waterproofs shoes and pants to be comfortable. Some of the rocks were covered in ice making them extremely slippery too, so I had to be very careful once I neared the top. This route includes 3 trails. The Twin Lakes were still in the shadows, as the sun had not yet risen high enough to illuminate it. They really wanted to be right there, and werent taking no for an answer. The rocks were still icy and required some careful footwork in some spots to negotiate. More mountain goats as I leave the Twins Lake area. You write quite well. In good weather it should not be a problem. Clothes and gear is now dry (mostly), and we wreaked of smoke. Since youll be hiking in the Rocky Mountains, you should be Bear Aware. This will be especially helpful during creek crossings and on downhill areas with loose pebbles.

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