Post by trinity on Aug 15, 2020 10:43:42 GMT -8
For many years now I’ve been wanting to get to the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness. I finally made it there for a quick 4 day trip, and it was worth the wait, and lived up to the hype.
I arrived in Westcliffe on June 23rd, and spent the night at Alvarado Campground, a large but very nice developed Forest Service Campground. I generally dislike developed campgrounds, but I was impressed with this one. I headed out the next morning, getting a fairly late start, as I didn’t have far to go to get to Venebles Lakes. I followed the venable trail, climbing up through pine forests, aspen groves, and spectacular views. Venables Falls was a particularly beautiful spot. I got a little bit of rain and hail during the day, but nothing too significant.
The hike to Venables Lakes is only around 4.5 miles, but with a gain of around 3,000 feet, no picnic for a lowlander like me. I reached the lower lake at about 5pm, and noticed to my consternation that there were some extremely dark stormclouds coming in from the west. I had no time to scout for an ideal campsite, but very quickly threw up my tarp in the flattest area I could find. No sooner was my tarp up when the storm broke, with lightning and heavy rain. Fortunately, it only lasted 20 minutes or so before it let up and eventually cleared. Now that I had time to look around, I discovered that I was camped at one of the most spectacular campsites I have ever seen, beside a beautiful alpine lake beneath Venables Peak. It was stunning. Better yet, the lake proved to be full of beautiful cutthroat trout.
The following day I headed up over the pass, an easy climb from Venables Lakes. The west side of the range proved, to my eye at least, even more spectacular than the east side. I descended down into beautiful valleys, following along the creek. I saw lots of great birds, including a Golden Eagle and a Blue Grouse with chicks.
Eventually I came to the junction with the Crestone Trail, where I began climbing again up to North Crestone Lake. This lake is even more spectacular than Venables, and I had it all to myself. Good campsites are scarce, but I found a pretty nice place to set up.
That night I awakened, feeling like something was in the tarp with me. I figured it was just a mouse, but I reached for my headlamp to get up and go to the bathroom. Oddly, I couldn’t find it. I found my glasses, and groped around for my headlamp for a while, and eventually gave up, and found the spare light that I carry in my backpack. I continued looking for my lamp, and it slowly dawned on me that it was gone. Whatever had been in my tent with me had dragged it off. I spent a little time searching for it outside the tarp, but I never did find it. Very disconcerting. The next morning I discovered that the sack for my stove was also gone, my Icebreaker shirt was chewed full of holes, and there was a hole in the top of my hat. I have never heard of marmots stealing things, and thought them to be diurnal, but could think of nothing else that could have done this. The next morning I was away from camp for a short period, and returned to find a marmot chewing on the handle of one of my trekking poles. I was able to shoo him off, but eventually he came back, and was quite unafraid of me. He would just waddle into camp and start trying to grab my food. I would poke at him with my trekking pole, which barely fazed him. Soon he was joined by a second marmot, and together they kept up an unrelenting attack on my camp until finally I just packed up and left. The whole episode was both comical and, at the same time, a bit unsettling.
That day was a very short one. I just hiked a few miles back down the trail, and camped at one of the very nice designated campsites along North Crestone Creek, in a beautiful aspen grove. The mosquitos were pretty bad, but frankly I preferred them to the marmots.
On day 4 I headed east, with the plan to spend my final night at Comanche Lake. It was a beautiful climb, not as strenuous as I expected (I was finally beginning to acclimate), though it was another 3000ish foot climb. The views of the peaks to the south and west just got more and more stunning the higher I got. I also started to hear voices above me, and noticed that there were an awful lot of people hiking along the Phantom Terrace. Eventually I reached the pass, and descended down to Comanche Lake. As I had feared, it was quite crowded. I am not accustomed to crowds in designated wilderness areas, and was surprised at how many people I encountered on the east side of the Sangres. I assume proximity to Colorado Springs is a factor. Yes, crowded is relative, but there were probably 15 or so parties around the lake, and more backpackers still coming in. I didn’t feel like being around that many people, so with great regret, I just continued down the trail another 4 or 5 miles to the trailhead and headed out.
Though a bit short, it was a fabulous trip. I think the Sangres are as spectacular as any place I’ve been, short of the Winds. Seems to me that whenever absarokanaut talks about the Sangres, he calls them the "Glory of Colorado." Now I know why.
I arrived in Westcliffe on June 23rd, and spent the night at Alvarado Campground, a large but very nice developed Forest Service Campground. I generally dislike developed campgrounds, but I was impressed with this one. I headed out the next morning, getting a fairly late start, as I didn’t have far to go to get to Venebles Lakes. I followed the venable trail, climbing up through pine forests, aspen groves, and spectacular views. Venables Falls was a particularly beautiful spot. I got a little bit of rain and hail during the day, but nothing too significant.
The hike to Venables Lakes is only around 4.5 miles, but with a gain of around 3,000 feet, no picnic for a lowlander like me. I reached the lower lake at about 5pm, and noticed to my consternation that there were some extremely dark stormclouds coming in from the west. I had no time to scout for an ideal campsite, but very quickly threw up my tarp in the flattest area I could find. No sooner was my tarp up when the storm broke, with lightning and heavy rain. Fortunately, it only lasted 20 minutes or so before it let up and eventually cleared. Now that I had time to look around, I discovered that I was camped at one of the most spectacular campsites I have ever seen, beside a beautiful alpine lake beneath Venables Peak. It was stunning. Better yet, the lake proved to be full of beautiful cutthroat trout.
The following day I headed up over the pass, an easy climb from Venables Lakes. The west side of the range proved, to my eye at least, even more spectacular than the east side. I descended down into beautiful valleys, following along the creek. I saw lots of great birds, including a Golden Eagle and a Blue Grouse with chicks.
Eventually I came to the junction with the Crestone Trail, where I began climbing again up to North Crestone Lake. This lake is even more spectacular than Venables, and I had it all to myself. Good campsites are scarce, but I found a pretty nice place to set up.
That night I awakened, feeling like something was in the tarp with me. I figured it was just a mouse, but I reached for my headlamp to get up and go to the bathroom. Oddly, I couldn’t find it. I found my glasses, and groped around for my headlamp for a while, and eventually gave up, and found the spare light that I carry in my backpack. I continued looking for my lamp, and it slowly dawned on me that it was gone. Whatever had been in my tent with me had dragged it off. I spent a little time searching for it outside the tarp, but I never did find it. Very disconcerting. The next morning I discovered that the sack for my stove was also gone, my Icebreaker shirt was chewed full of holes, and there was a hole in the top of my hat. I have never heard of marmots stealing things, and thought them to be diurnal, but could think of nothing else that could have done this. The next morning I was away from camp for a short period, and returned to find a marmot chewing on the handle of one of my trekking poles. I was able to shoo him off, but eventually he came back, and was quite unafraid of me. He would just waddle into camp and start trying to grab my food. I would poke at him with my trekking pole, which barely fazed him. Soon he was joined by a second marmot, and together they kept up an unrelenting attack on my camp until finally I just packed up and left. The whole episode was both comical and, at the same time, a bit unsettling.
That day was a very short one. I just hiked a few miles back down the trail, and camped at one of the very nice designated campsites along North Crestone Creek, in a beautiful aspen grove. The mosquitos were pretty bad, but frankly I preferred them to the marmots.
On day 4 I headed east, with the plan to spend my final night at Comanche Lake. It was a beautiful climb, not as strenuous as I expected (I was finally beginning to acclimate), though it was another 3000ish foot climb. The views of the peaks to the south and west just got more and more stunning the higher I got. I also started to hear voices above me, and noticed that there were an awful lot of people hiking along the Phantom Terrace. Eventually I reached the pass, and descended down to Comanche Lake. As I had feared, it was quite crowded. I am not accustomed to crowds in designated wilderness areas, and was surprised at how many people I encountered on the east side of the Sangres. I assume proximity to Colorado Springs is a factor. Yes, crowded is relative, but there were probably 15 or so parties around the lake, and more backpackers still coming in. I didn’t feel like being around that many people, so with great regret, I just continued down the trail another 4 or 5 miles to the trailhead and headed out.
Though a bit short, it was a fabulous trip. I think the Sangres are as spectacular as any place I’ve been, short of the Winds. Seems to me that whenever absarokanaut talks about the Sangres, he calls them the "Glory of Colorado." Now I know why.
