Lee Hart - Hiking Colorados Sangre de Cristos and Great Sand Dunes: A Guide to the Areas Greatest Hiking Adventures

Every effort has been made by the author and editors to make this guide as accurate and useful as possible. However, many things can change after a guide is publishedtrails are rerouted, regulations change, techniques evolve, facilities come under new management, and so on.

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A previous edition of this book was published by FalconGuides in 2003.

All interior photos by Jason Moore unless otherwise noted

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Maps: Melissa Baker Rowman & Littlefield

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Information available

The Library of Congress previously catalogued the first edition of this book as follows:

Moore, Jason.

Hiking Colorados Sangre de Cristo Wilderness/Jason Moore. 1st ed.

p. cm. (A Falcon guide)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0762711086

ISBN-10: 0762711086

1. HikingSangre de Cristo Mountains (Colo. and N.M.)Guidebooks. 2. Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Colo. and N.M.)Guidebooks. I. Title. II. Series.

GV199.42.S28 M66 2002

978.849dc21 2002035337

ISBN 978-0-7627-8255-0 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-4930-2381-3 (e-book)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

The authors and Rowman & Littlefield assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

This project would never have been possible without the rock-solid support of my wife and best friend, Natalie. Having grown up together as teenagers, we have been best friends, partners, and supporters of each others dreams for almost half of our lives. I feel truly fortunate to have been blessed by such a loving, friendly, tolerant, and open spirit.

I also have to thank my good friend and frequent hiking partner Jonathan Funk, who accompanied me on some of the hikes described here. I thank him sincerely for helping me create coherent and thorough descriptions. His long hours of review as deadlines pressed have not been forgotten. Nor have I forgotten our first trip together into the Sangre de Cristo, before this project even began. It was a three-day trip in snowpacked spring conditions up South Colony Creek, where we camped in solitude under clear skies, surrounded by the mighty Crestones. Our climb up windswept slopes to the summit of Humboldt Peak and our classic descenta foot glissade 2,000 vertical feet down to camp, where we basked in a typical Sangre sunsetwere highlights of a trip I will never forget. This was my first trip to the range, and never did I think at the time that I would be writing this guide.

Its fitting that Jon joined me for one of my last trips in the range. We started at North Crestone Trailhead, and spent the next four days backpacking up the North Fork, over the pass and across the San Isabel Valley. Our second pass brought us to camp at Rito Alto Lake, and we reached Cotton Lake for our last night before hiking out to the best Mexican food I have ever eaten. It was truly a great way to bracket my experiences in the Sangre de Cristo, with a good friend surrounded by incredible mountains.

My friends and family who have always encouraged me to take the trail of my own choosing, heres to you. My mother, Diane Sohn; my brother, Kevin Carr, who joined me for my second ascent of Humboldt Peak; Colleen Deffner; Russell Deffner; Mike and Pat Rines; Lee Deffner and Cindy Georger; my brother Bryan; my sister and brother-in-law, Melanie and Jon Acevedo; and Chris and Lance Brooks and their triplets Dillon, Tristen, and Cameron. All of you have been sources of energy for me when I was tired, blistered, cold, windburned, sunburned, dehydrated, and full of doubt. My grandfather Leonard Mattson and my late grandmother Pauline Mattson have also been in my thoughts while I have sat on high mountain summits and looked back at where I came from and where I wanted to go next.

Jason Moore

Sincere thanks to all of you, for believing, inspiring, and supporting my lofty, high-altitude dreams. I want to thank the land managers I worked with for this book: Patrick Myers, Brett Beasley, Gerald Austin, Jeffer Wingate, Jeff Outhier, and Jim Pitts. Many thanks also to those federal and state workers on the ground who dedicate tireless, thankless hours doing the best they can with shrinking budgets, dwindling staffs, and increased demands from diverse user groups to be the best stewards they can be for treasured national lands. The mountains and trails featured in this revision havent changed much from the first edition of this book, but the people, priorities, and politics the rangers and administrators of these resources must deal with have. Despite sometimes fickle winds of change, at the end of the day, we owe gratitude to the land use managers whose daily duty is to care for our public lands so that they are ready for us when we carve time out of our busy lives to slow down and challenge ourselves to a good hike, backpacking trip, or climb to the summit of the hauntingly beautiful Sangre de Cristo Wilderness.

Lee Hart

The word wilderness conjures images of untracked valleys, remote mountains, solitude, wildlife, and wildness. We think of places where it is easy to lose our way, immerse ourselves in nature, and return to simpler living. Unquestionably, the Sangre de Cristo mountain range is wilderness redefined. This region has no major interstate highways and thus doesnt get the volume of visitors as elsewhere in Colorado. Since trails arent as well worn, all but a few of the most popular trails in this guidebook can be challenging to navigate. Depending on perspective, this is at once a blessing and a curse. Solitude abounds; wayfinding demands more constant attention. The most popular trails, especially those accessing the 14,000-foot peaks, have been well used over the yearsfirst by wildlife, then by native people, followed by herds of cattle and goats, and more recently by outfitters, hunters, hikers, anglers, and climbers. The Sangre de Cristo has been hunted, grazed, trapped, mined, and harvested. Today, wildlife is diverse and plentiful and has recovered from the days of the trappers and hunters. There are abundant deer, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep. Hawks, eagles, and falcons are often seen patrolling the skies, while bears, mountain lions, and coyotes can wander from the eastern boundary to the western in a single day. Todays Sangre de Cristo remains a delicate string of alpine lakes with tundra-covered slopes and forests of spruce, pine, fir, and juniper, as well as a profusion of wildflowers and isolated wetlands. It is all split down the middle by a jagged crest of imposing, twisted, glacially carved stone.