WalkingCarrot

In the morning cows were moving around the high altitude shallow basin in which we were camped. Is there anywhere they aren’t to be found? So far almost every day of this trip we have come across cows or their droppings. Even here, camped at 11,700 feet, high in the South San Juan wilderness, in country so wild and remote that some people believe a small remnant population of grizzlies might be surviving, we find bovinus alpinus.

Our walk continues across rolling plateaus, criss-crossing minor divides and climbing back on the continental divide. A few shallow basins are dotted with small ponds and lakes. The sparse trees are mostly some stunted subalpine fir, which grow larger as we dip into the occasional deeper basin or cross a high valley. A lush carpet of green speckled with various colors from the wildlflowers dominate the vast panoramas.

On occasional shaded slopes we cross the first on-trail snow fields we’ve seen this summer. Two large storm cells skirt by us with minor delays and some light rain falls on us while we watch other areas get heavy downfalls and get hammered by lighting.

The Mule deer and Elk we’ve become accustomed to seeing are joined in these higher elevations by picas and marmots.

As the day wore on into evening temps dropped and we dropped too, to blue lake, nestled in a high elevation basin and surrouned by forest. It’s an idyllic setting but we need to make some more miles and move on.

After climbing back to the main plateau we follow a ridge with steeper sides and a number of ups and downs as it rolls towards a line of tall peaks now forming the continental divide. We drop into a deep narrow valley separated by two side ridges and make camp on a slope by the creek draining “Gunsight pass.” The terrain is really too slanted for camping, but there is one spot level enough for one tent – it looks like it had been excavated for this purpose by someone. Since it’s almost dark, we take advantage of it.

The dramtic setting of the divide in Colorado also means the trails are more popular and we see other backpackers, with fishing gear, at Trail lake and Blue lake. The popularity also means that we spend more time (MUCH, more time) on actual “trail”. Overall it’s a delight to be here, high in the Colorado Rockies!

18 miles