There were 3 of us total on this trip. Initially we were planning on heading to the Chicago Basin via the Durango-Silverton railroad. We set out from Austin and made the 17hr drive to Durango in one fell swoop. We arrived around 11:30 PM only to find that every room in the entire town was booked because there was a rodeo in town. Probably should have booked a room before we left, whoops. Live and learn. We had to drive 40 miles back in the direction from whence we came to find a room. Needless to say, it was a LONG day. The next day we checked the weather from the computer in the hotel lobby and found that the railroad had been blocked by a mudslide. There go those plans. So, we did a little research and decided to head over and try Challenger Point.
Great Sand Dunes NP was very close to our destination so we stopped there for the night. The sand dunes are massive (600 ft I think?) and proved to be a challenging climb. They also had some interesting displays of the glass formations that are made when lightning strikes the dunes. Didn't take any pictures for fear of sand getting in the camera.
The next day we headed to the trailhead just outside of Crestone, CO. I honestly can't remember the details of the hike but it was something like 3,000 ft vertical gain in 4 miles. The switchbacks were endless but it was a beautiful hike. By the time we reached Willow Lake I was completely drained. A couple shots from the hike up...
A nice meadow we passed.
That's our destination way off in the distance...
We found a good camping spot near Willow Lake and settled in (around 11,000 ft I think). My partners were both feeling a little nauseous from the altitude and wanted to take a nap so I did a little bit of sightseeing. Spotted a good sized elk way up above treeline, not sure what he was doing up there.
Willow Lake...that waterfall is about 80ft high.
The next morning we hit the trail early to try and make Challenger Point. My legs were not feeling good and I was beginning to regret climbing those sand dunes a few days before. By the time we made it to the top of the waterfall I was having serious doubts about whether or not I had it in me to make the summit. My legs were tired and the air was markedly thinner than back home.
From the top of the falls.
We continued on until we got to the base of the big ascent. It was quite steep and around 2,000 vertical feet to the top of the ridge...no switchbacks. It was grueling to say the least. I was having to stop to rest and catch my breath literally about every 4 steps. I made it to 13,000ft and decided I just couldn't do it. I figured if I continued on and tried to reach the summit I just wouldn't have enough in me to make it back down safely. One of my partners felt the same way and decided to stop but the other pushed on to the summit. We decided, weather permitting, that we would sit there and have lunch and wait for him to return since he only had 1,000 vertical feet to go. So, we sat and enjoyed the view and ate our lunch.
Here's the portion of the trail above where we stopped. There's a few climbers to the right of the snow but they're hard to spot.
On our descent
Well, he made it to the summit and we all made it back to camp safely. We headed back down that same day to the town of Crestone and enjoyed a hot lunch and a couple of beers at the local watering hole. Turns out the owner was a native Texan and he hooked us up with a couple rounds on the house. The people in that bar were quite the hippies but that's another story entirely.
