A trip for the whole family in SW Colorado
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I had the rare pleasure of having my wife join me for a recent trip in the W wilderness, the largest in Colorado. We started at a high trailhead near the town of Silverton and did a four-day mostly out-and-back with some alternate routing on the return. This is an interesting area where the CT and CDT overlap, diverge, and cross several times, and one has access to many alpine lakes, miles of high tundra, and views of some of the most amazing peaks in the state, IMO.
Since we arrived at the trailhead fairly late, we planned to hike in only a few miles to a pleasant alpine lake. The trail rose through conifers …
and eventually emerged above timberline at a cluster of lakes that are frequently visited by day-hikers. As usual, Max was leading the way, and waiting for us as we reached the lake.
We found a nice established campsite at the second set of lakes.
The next day, we hiked out of the basin looked back down at our campsite, and enjoyed views of the Grenadier range.
The next section included miles of rolling trail over tundra above 12,000′. The first part is overlapping CT and CDT, which then split. Max enjoyed a break at the trail junction near some ponds.
From here, the flat-walking was over, and the rest of the trip was constant steep ups and downs. We followed the CDT, which leaves the wilderness briefly near a jeep road, and then climbs to hunchback pass.
After the pass, we descended the Vallecito Creek valley, and climbed back up the Nebo Creek valley through willows and eventually up into the tundra. Reaching Nebo Peak, we ultimately decided to backtrack slightly and camp on a nice saddle overlooking Nebo Creek.
The next morning, we reversed course, descending Nebo Creek and climbing Hunchback Pass from the opposite side.
At one point, we discovered that Max had been pretty hard on his gear during his frequent willow exploration, and we needed to stop for some repairs. Finally got to use that needle and thread!
After the pass, we took an alternate route, climbing past Kite Lake via a high connector back to the CT.
From the connector, we looked down on Eldorado Lake, and some un-named lakes that were our destination.
We re-joined the CT and circled around the ridge to see the un-named lakes from a different angle.
Descending, we found a nice campsite with great views in the rocky area behind the smaller lake.
On the final day, we enjoyed a last walk across the tundra with views of the high peaks, before departing first the CDT, then the CT, and descending back to the trailhead.
As always, I’m more than happy to provide more details to members by PM. :-)
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