14er Report #11: Sunlight Peak, Windom Peak, Mt. Eolus, North Eolus (Fall, Standard Routes from Chicago Basin)

Fall Sunset #2. Chicago Basin, Colorado, 2014 (These are mere 13ers–the 14ers are behind these peaks!)

“Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed…We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in.”

—Wallace Stegner, in The Sound of Mountain Water

[NOTE: Cool video by Jimbo added at the end. Check it out!]

Why is it people feel compelled to wave at people in passing trains (and the people in the trains at those along the tracks)? Or maybe it’s just the coal-fired, Butch Cassidy-Rob-Em-Style, steam trains (as in the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge classic) that promote this friendly social behavior?

Naw, I think its all trains…and ships, too, especially cruise ships. I think it has to do with humans embarking on an adventure. You just gotta wave. In our case, an adventure into the wilderness…(It isn’t enough for me to simply drive to the edge and look in.)

I figured we had less than a fifty percent chance of summiting anything in the Needle Mountain section of the Juan Mountains on this late September trip. After all, this is the time of year that you could just as easily awake to find a foot of snow atop your sagging tent as you could a clear, warm, autumn-blue sky.

My buddy and climbing partner from decades past, Jimmy D, had come up with the idea a few months back and I thought it a grand one, so off we went, hoping for the best. (Thanks, Jim!)

The general plan: Meet in Durango Wednesday night to organize our pack loads, sway and clackity-clack our way on the Durango-Silverton train to the Needleton stop and hike in to a Chicago Basin base camp on Thursday, summit Sunlight and Windom Peak on Friday, summit Mount Eolus and North Eolus on Saturday, hike out to the train on Sunday for the return to Durango.

As we planned things, I kept thinking about a post I saw on 14ers.com from September 12 that said something like…’Summer conditions at Chicago Basin. Don’t know how this can last much longer.’ And we were going two weeks later…two weeks closer to winter. Could favorable conditions in the high country really last much longer?

In the end, it couldn’t have worked out better. We had great weather for the climbs and the snow and rain waited until Sunday to hit, making the hike out at once miserable and magnificent–the water was spewing off the mountains via every possible drainage, including the very trail we were walking. The wetness delightfully boosted the color saturation of the beautiful fall colors in the aspens and lower undergrowth to near-HDR levels.

What a scene! John Muir would have climbed a tree to watch it all.

A bit of bad weather, then, as long as it comes at the right time, just makes an epic adventure even juicier, don’t you think?

Trip Report: Sunlight Peak (14,059′), Windom Peak (14,087′), Mt. Eolus (14,084′), North Eolus (14,039′)

Route:

The 8:45a.m. train out of Durango to Needleton. Make sure you take the right train–there are two in the morning and only one will drop you off at the middle-of-the-wilderness Needleton stop. Expect a ride of something over two hours before they halt the steaming locomotive, let you off, and hand you your backpack from the freight car. Spectacular ride–with lots of friendly waving involved! Consider eye protection in the open cars–coal dust in the eye sucks and makes your nose run.

On the hike up to Chicago Basin–about 6 miles or so–you’ll gain nearly 3,000 vertical feet as you climb through the spectacular canyon. My impression: they should have named it Cascade Canyon for the myriad waterfalls cascading down every steep drainage from the high mountains. The best photo ops start overwhelming you once you make it to the small wooden bridge at New York Creek and beyond. The trail is well used and easy to follow, but can turn into a small creek during heavy rains–as we found out.

The best campsites are probably found in the more forested lower end of Chicago Basin, but we pushed on to about 100 yards past the junction with the Twin Lakes Trail (signed) and found an adequate spot with good drainage. Our location made it very easy to immediately start up toward Twin Lakes and the 14ers each pre-dawn morning. Beware: there is a lot of swamp in this upper area, and rains can turn a nice-looking site into a small river or pond, so think carefully before staking out your temp home.

The trail up to Twin Lakes Basin climbs some 1,300 vertical feet to about 12,500′ at the lakes. Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (CFI) has done some great work here, so enjoy their “stairways to heaven” (then send them money).

By headlamp, on a dark night, the most confusing point might be right as you get to Twin Lakes. (Where are those trails to Eolus and Sunlight/Windom?)

For Sunlight/Windom, just continue on following the cairns on the right side of the lake (low or no snow) and you’ll eventually start seeing regular cairns again (some are HUGE–thanks CFI!). For Eolus, cross to the left below the lower lake where the creek flows out of the lake itself. With some probing around you’ll eventually see some smaller cairns (perhaps atop the boulders) and a faint trail that inclines its way up below the obvious cliffs. Consider doing Sunlight/Windom first, then you’ll know exactly where to go the next day for Eolus.

For Sunlight/Windom Peaks – South Slopes and West Ridge routes, respectively–the standard routes. Gerry Roach is very right when he says the scree climb up to the “Window” between Sunlight Peak and the Spire is “unpleasant”. I’d use much harsher words…not too many.

The scrambling on Sunlight was not nearly as scary as the YouTube GoPro videos will have you think, so enjoy it. The climb through the “hole” was fun and not terribly exposed (for us anyway). All in all, the scrambling was downright enjoyable on solid granite. The summit block had us being careful, but it wasn’t paralyzingly terrifying either (we are both tall–which helps). We both also managed to stand up (gingerly) with one foot on the summit block and the other on the slab beside.

On the descent, the contouring route over to the Windom saddle was straightforward with much boulder hopping…with more of the same up the West Ridge. The summit of Windom is airy, blocky, and pretty.

Some do Windom first, then Sunlight. This isn’t a bad option. You’ll still have some crappy scree to deal with above Twin Lakes to the Windom west ridge saddle, but route finding isn’t that difficult if you want to be on Windom’s summit for sunrise photography. As another benefit, once you contour over to the Sunlight scree slope from Windom, you’ll find yourself at least halfway up to the “window”.

For Mt. Eolus and North Eolus – The standard Northeast Ridge and the South Ridge routes, respectively. Having seen the trail junction at Twin Lakes the day before, it was no problem finding the trail by headlamp. The climb up to “The Ramp” is steep, but not nearly as “unpleasant” as the scree alley on Sunlight. The trail sometimes is a bit braided here and there, but just follow the small cairns. The Ramp was well-marked and basically hikeable–I used my hands maybe once to climb/descend a small ledged area.

Once on the ridge between Eolus and North Eolus, consider dropping your pack if you haul a Klondike-sized one and scramble on with just your camera or a small day pack.

I chose to climb Mt. Eolus first (it looked a LOT more intimidating, what with the Catwalk and the exposed East Face ledges and all…). The Catwalk was fun–good rock, great holds and not too terribly narrow. On the other side and starting up the ledges, I did feel my Heebee Geebee Meter awaken and flicker around a bit due to the exposure, but once I started climbing and concentrating on the route-finding I was fine. It didn’t turn out to be as difficult as it looked from the other side of the Catwalk and I found myself enjoying it.

Best advice for the ledges section: 1) Don’t go too far to the left or to the right, 2) If you are doing something really scary and difficult, you are probably off route–look around for a better way, 3) Some cairns may take you to more difficult spots–be aware, 4) On the way down, use prominences to look down and study the route options–this made the downclimb easier for me. (Saddle to summit took an hour, but only 30 minutes on the return.)

Once back at the saddle, definitely climb North Eolus…it is only about a 10-minute Class 2-ish scramble up some really sticky, large-crystal, pink granite to the top and you’ll have some great photo op stops for images of Mount Eolus and the entire Needle Mountain Range.

Timeline:

The Thursday hike up to the upper Chicago Basin from the train took us six hours–but then we are old, slow photographers who stop a lot. The same hike down in the rain to the train on Sunday took only 3 1/2 hours, even with a few photo stops along the way.

For Sunlight/Windom Peaks – (Friday) A 4a.m. wakeup, on the trail to Twin Lakes by 5a.m., at Twin Lakes by 6a.m. where we stopped a good while for some first light photography. From Twin Lakes to the Sunlight summit took about 2 1/2 hours (we arrived at 9:30a.m.) We left the summit at 10:15a.m. and, on the scree slope, I split off toward the Windom saddle. I arrived at the saddle an hour after leaving Sunlight’s summit and was on Windom’s summit by 11:45a.m. for 15 minutes of photography…then back down to Twin Lakes by about 1p.m. to meet up again with Jim, where we dawdled for a good while, finally making it back to camp at 3:20p.m.

For Mt. Eolus and North Eolus – (Saturday) Another 4a.m. wakeup, on the trail again by 5a.m. and up to Twin Lakes in about 50 minutes (familiarity helps!). Found the Eolus trail fairly easily due to yesterday’s reconnaissance and was near the beginning of The Ramp at sunrise (about 7a.m.). Made the Eolus-North Eolus saddle at 7:30a.m., the summit of Eolus at 8:30a.m., and was back at the saddle at 9:00a.m. It only took 30 minutes to climb and descend North Eolus, including ten minutes of photography on top. I started down from the Eolus-North Eolus saddle at 9:40a.m. and was back in camp by 11:30a.m. I had noticed some high cirrus from the west and the cumulus clouds started forming a bit earlier (about 8:30a.m.) thus my more hurried scheduled compared with yesterday’s climb.

Weather Conditions:

We lucked out, as they say. We had summer-like conditions for all four 14ers…then the snow, sleet and rain came in on the last day just to transform the hike out into a great, moist, epic, adventure with water and saturated fall colors everywhere. (Fall colors were pretty well at their peak.)

Daily, the sky dawned clear (except that last day, of course) and the clouds didn’t thicken into grey-black soup and the thunder didn’t start booming until around 4 to 6p.m., so there was plenty of time for even late risers to get to the four summits. Both summit days, we chose a 4a.m. wakeup and 5a.m. departure and were back down in the valley with plenty of time to avoid any messy mischief with Zeus and/or Thor.

Again, late September is a gamble in the Chicago Basin. You could have an autumn postcard party, or an Arctic winter epic…it all depends on the weather gods.

Trail Conditions:

Noted elsewhere in this report. Worth emphasis: if it rains hard, much of the trail up to Chicago Basin can turn into a small creek. Wear appropriate footgear.

Photography Issues:

–I still haven’t sorted out a good “personal system” for carrying and using all this heavy DSLR crap I haul along. Especially while scrambling Class 3 stuff, the DSLR on the Black Rapid Strap just doesn’t cut it–it swings and twirls around too much. I’ll have to consider some sort of modification.

–With all the waterfalls in this basin, a thick neutral density filter is a nice thing to have to slow down the water.

–I estimate I was carrying 10-12 pounds of camera gear (body, three lenses, small tripod, batteries, filters, etc.) in addition to the regular 4-day load. I am getting too old for that. Will need to consider trimming a lens, or going with some smaller camera system in the future for these longer trips.

–Whilst hiking down in the pouring rain, Jim and I were loath to pull out our cameras for pictures even though the photo ops were many and mind-bogglingly beautiful. We missed a LOT of potentially gorgeous images. The best camera for this situation might be a small, mirrorless and waterproof, affair. The best camera in the world is useless if you don’t feel like you can use it for whatever reason.

–Based on the above comments, a good combo might be to go with the D800 and only one lens–say, the 24-120 f/4–along with a small, waterproof, high-quality, point and shoot. This involves a compromise of quality for convenience. But, an image of very slightly lower quality is much better than not getting the shot at all.

–14ers aside, Chicago Basin and its waterfalls, tundra, alpine growth, goats, etc. make a good destination for photography.

Unusual Events / Comments:

—Rocky Mountain goats are everywhere and will walk within feet of you in your camp. Sometimes you might see them classically posed (as in a couple of my images below)…but more often than not, you’ll spot them ignominiously licking your pee off of a large rock. I did actually see goat turds on the Eolus Catwalk, so they do get around!

–We used a cord to hang our food about five feet up and had no problems with critters. Bears don’t seem to live around here (too many humans maybe?) so small rodents might be your biggest threat.

–One Forest Service veteran said that the Basin gets some 10,000+ human-use days per season, which makes for some serious trampling of the environment. Try to minimize your impact in any way possible, including packing out your poop (check the metal box at the trail head for bags).

–Keep in mind, this report is based on autumn conditions. The environment will be significantly different in early spring, summer, and winter.

–A former climbing buddy of mine, Jeff Achey, was the first to free climb the Sunlight Spire. It goes at 5.10 or so–maybe harder 5.10 if on the lead placing protection, maybe slightly easier following (or so they say). It is a spectacular hand-finger crack in a spectacular setting–I see why it attracted him. Kudos to Jeff for hauling all the gear up the mountain, waiting for good weather, then climbing the thing–at 14,000′ above sea level!

–If you are waiting at Needleton for the train in bad weather, consider crossing the tracks and holing up in an old structure you’ll find there. It has no windows and the broken floor surely hides many mighty mice, but the roof is super solid and it’ll keep you dry.

—Colorado 14er Senior Challenge summit count: 19 of the basic list of 58 (p. xxiii in Gerry Roach’s 14er “Bible”, Colorado Fourteeners, 3rd Ed.); 24 of the long list of 73 (pp. 347-348, with South Wilson added, also in Roach’s “Bible”.

Selected Images: