July 30 - Somewhere after a red gate   Miles Today: 26,9 Total Miles: 275.8

Wow, this day had it all! Sunrise, Blue Sky, Dry Tent, Hail, Elk, Views, Lodges, Glacial Lake, Mountains, Rocks, Marmots, Cabin, Mine Shaft, Narrow Gauge Tracks, “Privy-With-A-View”, Red Rocks, Red Clay, Gulches, Ravines, Bridges and Canyons! WHEW! My last full day on the Colorado Trail was just incredible. I felt like that old guy from Jurassic Park was following me along all day, saying “Spared no expense.” Man, that was back when Laura Dern still had a career. But I digress.

After an hour or so of storms last night, the rain held off and eventually the clouds cleared out. What this means for me was a sweet sunrise in the morning and a completely dry tent! I was pumped. It was warm, dry and I was hiking on the trail by 6:30 under a blue sky.

Last night, I was bummed that I didn’t make it a few more miles to camp, and I was still a little bummed this morning. However, those feelings were quickly done away with after a few miles of walking. When I got to the area where I had wanted to camp, I started noticing large piles of hail. Yup, there was still a ton of hail to be found in the area that I had wanted to camp. It was already 8:00 at the time, so who know how much hail fell last night as the storms passed through. All I know is that I was suddenly thankful for camping out on the ridge.

If that wasn’t cool enough, as I was looking down at the many piles of hail, I felt the ground rumble. I looked up to see a mini-herd of elk, all of who were quickly darting for the safety of the forest. There many have been 10 in total, and the one male that I saw had an unbelievably large rack; six feet across I would have to guess.

Well, it was already quite a morning and I had a six mile, 1500 foot climb in front of my. The views were spectacular. I was surprised to see that the trail had traversed over to another dramatic mountain range in the San Juans. Sharp peaks, deep cuts and snowfields were everywhere in this new range. Fortunately, the Colorado Trail traveled over a smaller, grassy ridgeline that provided dramatic views without all of the work. Several times during the climb, the trail would traverse a “knife-edge” type of rock formation. The definitely added a level of cool to the climb.

When I finally reached the top of the ridge, I had a view of the range to the west, the range to the south and just about the biggest, most perfect glacial lake 750 feet below. This beauty, Taylor Lake, was nestled in tight to the mountains and was a perfect blue-green color. I could have easily spent the day right here.

But as usual, there were more miles to hike, so I kept moving up and over the Kennebec Pass. On the other side, as the trail descended, I spied an old mining cabin perched up on a ledge. Muldoon Mine, as its called, is not that old of a mine. However, as I walked the quarter mile up there to get a closer look, there was all sorts of cool stuff that was left behind. The mineshaft had collapsed but was still very visible. The narrow gauge rails for the mining carts were still in place. The cabin itself was in good condition, though somewhat vandalized. The privy was also still standing, and had just about the best view of any outhouse that I have ever seen. While poking around the site, I disturbed a couple of marmots, who apparently occupy this place now. For so many reasons, this was my favorite place of the day.

Not that there weren’t other cool places, because there were plenty more on this day. As I started the six mile downhill to Junction Creek, the trail side-hilled this amazing slickrock section. The color red was everywhere, and I could also see the mine cabin perched of its ledge high above. Too soon, the trail dropped down, back into the trees and my views were again obstructed.

A few miles after that, the trail passes by Gaines Gulch, another cool place for the day. This large, stone amphitheatre has a small waterfall running right down the center of the structure. My only regret here is that there was no good place to sit and admire the site.

A short while later, I was at the bottom of the descent and crossing Junction Creek on a large bridge. This signaled the end of playtime and the start of a four mile, 1000 foot climb. While this was obviously some work, especially with a double load of water, the limited views made the effort worth it. From up high, you could really see the entire, red rock canyon. There was an impressive outlook at the top of the climb, before the trail began its final descent into Durango.

I limped the last few miles to get here, at my makeshift campsite. I had hiked 27 miles before 4:00 PM. Technically, I could get into Durango tonight. However, my body is aching, hungry and needs a bit of rest after a day like today. Its only seven more trail miles into Durango, so I’ll be in town tomorrow for breakfast, without having to pay for a hotel tonight.

Anyway, the storms appeared to have past and I need to cook some dinner. What a perfect last full day on the Colorado Trail.

- Chomp

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