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The Weminuche Wilderness in southern Colorado
includes nearly 100 miles of the continental divide that runs East and West in this
area. Its beauty makes it worthy of national park status. The eastern boundary
includes Wolfe Creek Pass and the western boundary is the Durango Silverton narrow gauge
railroad that runs along the Animas River. The Rio Grande forest lies to the north
of the divide and the San Juan forest to the South.
 | Maps and Guidebooks: The
Forest Service has made a good topographic map of the Weminuche so USGS quads are
not strictly needed. They sell a plasticized version in both Pagosa Springs and
Durango. Regular Forest Service maps are good for local roads and not much else
although trails are shown. I long ago lost or loaned my copy of "A Backpacking
Guide to the Weminuche Wilderness" by Dennis Gebhardt that was sold in local
bookstores. This is a very good guide but not essential if you download this site
and get the Forest Service map. Not sure it is still in print.
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| Trailheads: Many trail heads around the
Weminuche make it possible to plan treks with short shuttles or hikes in different years
starting from point A but ending up at C, D, E or F, giving you a different trip each
year. There are two trail heads along the railroad where backpackers are dropped and
picked up (land along the railroad is mostly private so plan on hiking in few miles to
find a campsite) and two possible treks between these points are shown on the Treks page. top of page |
| Streams and Falls: Even in a
dry year there is plenty of water in the streams through August. Just about every
trail has waterfalls and cascades to be seen but the best are on Elk Creek and Johnson
Creek on the west side of the wilderness. The creeks tumbling into Vallecito have
some nice falls too. In early June the |
| Lakes: Lakes range from
beautiful Emerald Lake, second largest natural lake in Colorado, to numerous Alpine lakes
with ample native trout. Fishing attracts outfitters and outfitter traffic tends to
ruin a place by bringing duffers that aren't planning to return. If you can overlook
the horse manure and trash the fishermen leave behind, the lakes make for spectacular
scenery. Moon, Granite and Turkey are my favorites small lakes.
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| Mountains: There are a number
or 14,000 feet or near 14,000 foot mountains in the Weminuche. The Chicago
Basin has 3 that are frequented by 14K freaks because one can walk up all three in a
weekend once you are at the top. I once had a 10K runner, doing oxygen deprivation
training, pass me going down the trail in the basin one afternoon. He told as we
waited for the train that he had run up all three 14K peaks that day. He had nothing
but running togs, a fanny pack and a canteen so I believe his story. Regular
trails take you near 13K in several spots like South River Peak, Columbine Pass, and above
the Elk Creek head waters. Of one starts at Wolf Creek Pass and hikes the 85 miles
to the railroad, the trial drops below 11K only one time at Weminuche pass before starting
the final descent down Elk Creek. The mountain passes make for wonderful vistas. |
| Animals: On the trek from Wolf
Creek Pass to the railroad we saw numerous elk herds. Since they are hunted they shy
away from man and they were always aware of us before we saw them. I have seen an
elk herd twice close up near Puerto Blanco above Turkey Lake in spring, but when we went
to see them a third time during the September rut there were about 100 bow hunters looking
for them too. No elk. We have had mule deer graze into our camp on a number of
occasions. We have seen the beaver on Elk Creek, a rare pika at Turkey Lake,
porcupines, chipmunks and marmots all over the place. Once saw a marmot chase
a red fox away from its young in a meadow to the west above Archuleta Lake. Be still
and the animals come around. We have seen bear sign but no bear. Once we
caught the train at Elk Park station and the passengers asked if we saw the bear just
around the bend. I read an article about grizzly bears that survive today in the
Weminuche and the people that regularly hunt for and find their sign. They survive
because they have learned to be extremely shy of man. A bow hunter even killed a
grizzly above Pagosa Springs in the 1970's (in self defense??) but the Forest Service
refuses to accept the evidence. An endangered species in the Weminuche would wreck
the local hunting economy. We can't take a rock out of a wilderness for study but we
can take a dead animal for a trophy. The contrast between animal behaviour around
man in areas like the Philmont Scout Ranch and the national parks where animals are
protected, and the wilderness areas where they are hunted is like night and day. We
could do with more protection. top of
page |
| Birds: My favorite
mountain bird is the Camp Robber (mountain Jay). These fearless theives, easily
habituated, will often eat out of your hand. Actually spent the day with a crow near
Columbine Pass. At the beaver ponds on Elk Creek there are duck and a little black
bird that swims under water. It is amazing the number of fresh water birds that
pursue food by swimming under water. I wish I knew the names of the tiny birds in
mountains and canyons that give me their song. |
| Flowers: I use at least
two rolls of film every time I go backpacking taking pictures of wild flowers that I have
filmed ten time before. It is hard to pass up a Columbine - period. Again, I don't
know their names but forever marvel at the miniture bouquets
smaller than the diameter of a pencil. Even the dandelion is beautiful in different
stages of bloom. We climbed up the mountain beside the thin cascade that comes down
Puerto Blanco and came into a small meadow that was solid with Columbine, paintbrush, iris
and other flowers - yellow is nature's favorite color for mountain flowers.
Pleasures like that are availble no where but the high country. |
Capabilities
Steve Grigory has hiked nearly all of the trails in the Weminuche Wilderness over the
past 15-years - many of them more than once. From 1982 to 1986 he took Explorer Post
304 (BSA coed, teenage group) out of San Antonio, Texas on 10-day treks each year but for
the past 10-years has organized a group of all male adults ages 18 to 60 for a trek each
spring. Some of his favorite treks are detailed in the Backpack Treks page.
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