Wolf Creek Pass to Silverton Colorado Part 2

June 1-6, 2022. Weminuche Wilderness, Rio Grande National Forest CDT Miles 847-922

Wolf Creek Pass (Pagosa Springs) to Silverton CO via the Colorado Trail and Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad

The next section of trail goes 114 miles without crossing a paved road, so to break it up, my trail group planned to make a side trip to Silverton for resupply. We were expecting our pace to be slower due to elevation and snow, but conditions were not as bad as expected. Once again, monitoring the forecast and waiting in town for a couple days paid off.

The only hard snowy part was right at the start of this section

Ascending out of the pass was tricky due to recent snowfall. The trail was completely covered and trying to follow it was hopeless. At one point I gave up and just went straight up the slope to the top of the ridge where I could get my bearings. After a little while hiking the crest I saw the trail below me and slid down on my sleeping pad to rejoin.

We camped next to this lake on the first night

This section featured a lot of exposed ridgeline as the trail straddles or parallels the Continental Divide. The top of the ridges were mostly snow free.

Got a lot of pictures of the Divide

A lot of panoramas too

Camp spot on the third night

Pacific Ocean to the left, Atlantic Ocean to the right

The scenery was absolutely spectacular

The trail navigates between and around several steep peaks around the headwaters of the Rio Grande.

Rio Grande Pyramid

Eventually the Colorado Trail joins the Continental Divide Trail. The Colorado Trail is about 500 miles long and overlaps the CDT from this point up to the Breckenridge area. Instead of continuing on the CDT/CT northbound, we turned south on the CT to get to town for resupply.

Descending Switchbacks on the Colorado Trail

Elk Creek

Avalanche Debris

The Colorado trail follows Elk Creek through a narrow valley prone to avalanches. After about nine miles the CT crosses the Animas river and the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. This was going to be our ride into town. The D&S is a scenic heritage railroad, and it will pick up and drop off hikers in this remote corner of Colorado.

Looking for the train stop

Flagging the train

I’ll start off the next post with the train ride to Silverton since this one is already getting long. It was one of my favorite experiences of the trail. Until next time