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Adventures of the Spirit Eagle - Colorado CDT

  by Jim & Ginny Owen

August 4 - campsite near Mineral Creek Trail junction - 11.8 miles - Total 45.1

Ginny: Lunch at San Luis Pass. It rained, gently, all night from 6 PM to about 7:30 am. We got up just as it stopped, but had clouds and occasional drips all morning. Still it was a good morning. Despite mist and fog, the views are spectacular. We’ve gone over three saddles, each with a different view. Kick ass climbs though. We’re slow. We face another 900' climb this afternoon and are in no hurry to move, despite the rain. Beautiful flowers are everywhere. We saw our first columbine at 12,000', yellow and pink paintbrush, tiny alpine flowers, larkspur, monkshood, elephant heads, white purple and yellow daisies, asters, sunflowers, clover, etc.

Later: Rain forced us off and chased us 800' up a saddle. A few sprinkles, nothing serious. Several more saddles led us from one glacial cirque to the next. Beautiful but exhausting. We finally called it a day at 12 miles on a lovely ledge overlooking West Mineral Creek Basin. There’s water from a snowfield just above us and lots of deer and elk tracks across the meadow. Big bad black clouds are moving in again. But all day we’ve alternated sunshine and showers. It never got too bad. I would have liked more sunshine, especially for the views. We couldn’t see very far with the moisture in the air. We saw what looked like a herd of deer across the way this morning, and a grey grouse and a beautiful brown and white moth, some marmots, a pica, and lots of ground squirrels. We met two groups going the other way and saw a couple of four-wheelers at San Luis Pass and a helicopter that buzzed our campsite last night. Not quite a solitary experience, but wilderness enough. We had no trouble following the trail, though the tracks fade out on the really alpine terrain. There are posts across the open areas and clear tread through the trees. We reluctantly passed up a lovely campsite three miles back near a beaver pond. It was in the spruce, under some awesome cliffs, but too early in the day. There was so much beauty. At one point I was so filled with joy and gratitude and awe that I started to cry. Jim hugged me and shared the feelings - though not the tears. It is so magnificent!

Jim: A long day - 11.8 miles - and I’m slower than I think I should be. The grades aren’t that bad - if this were 6000 ft lower we’d probably cruise. But it’s not - and we’re not. It was cloudy most of the day, with occasional thunderstorms. Hadn’t planned on this - I expected the late afternoon thunderstorms, but the 24 hour rains have come as a surprise. I think they’ve also surprised some native Coloradans. The terrain changed drastically at San Luis Pass. In the Cochetopa the terrain was somewhat relatable to some of the Eastern trails. But at San Luis Pass we entered the high country very suddenly and nothing in my previous experience compares to this – not even the Whites. It’s beautiful, it’s wonderful, it’s awesome and it’s a little scary. Finally camped just under the Divide in a small cirque at 12500 ft. It has a small stream that’s fed by the snowpack. It also came with a built-in thunderstorm that dropped a lightning strike on the ridge about 100 yards from the tent. That’ll start your heart - or stop it!!

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© Copyright 1997 Jim & Ginny Owen