Continued...
We'd left Telluride with only a vague idea of how we were to get to Albuquerque
in time for the eclipse on the 14th. Having spent the night in Rico, we were
up in the early morning for the drive south on SR145 to Dolores, then SE on
SR184 to Mancos where we would pick up US160 heading east. Eric had us driving
to Wolf Creek Pass above Pagosa Springs, about a three hour effort, but I had
found some objectives we could do along the way. These would pretty much fill
up our day with a combination of dirt road and highway driving, some hiking
along the way.
Menefee Mountain
This is the high summit on the south side of US160, east of Mancos, sporting
over 900ft of prominence. Others have reported that you can drive to the top,
but seems none of the TRs on PB or LoJ actually describe having done so. The
route is not obvious, at least from our exit off US160 east of the summit,
where there are no signs indicating private from BLM lands. The driving route
described in the TRs (and on the GPX here) is entirely on BLM and CO state
lands. is pretty rough, high-clearance necessary and 4WD as
well if not completely dry. Lots of deep ruts and encroaching brush, too. After
leaving Eric's car at the highway, we took the Jeep right to
. There is a cell tower at the summit and a collection of
other telecom stuff . Views were not so exciting now
that we'd left the San Juan Mtns.
Peak 8,485ft
Supposedly there is a public easement way to reach this summit from the north,
off US160. We found the start of the road described by markott on LoJ to be
gated and locked. Later, we examined that road branch from above and noted it
was terribly overgrown - we think they have cut off the public easement for
good. Luckily, there is another way. Adjacent to the derelect gate is a much
fancier one for the upscale suburban development on the NW side of the mountain
and the source of the issue - seems they would like to keep the public out of
the area. We noted that when anyone goes in or out of the automatic gate, it
stays open for a considerable time. We simply waited for a work truck to exit
and then drove into the development. The dirt roads are well-graded and take
you through a tour of this dispersed development, the opposite of high-density
and eco-friendly. This is Colorado's 3rd district, currently represented by
Lauren Boebert, 'nuff said. Our meandering driving route eventually connected
with the public easement north of the summit where
travel through BLM land to reach the summit.
There is a microwave repeater tower at with views to
and the southern part of the
state. After a short walk-around, we drove back out to the highway without
incident and continued our way east on US160.
Animas City Mountain
After two drive-ups, we were happy to give our legs some work to do. Animas
City Mtn is a P1K on the north side of Durango. It is named for the city that
preceded Durango, founded in 1876 but not surviving to the present day. Nearly
the entire mountain is on BLM land and there is a large network of trails
throughout, including ones built for mountain bikes. It appears to be quite
popular. is at the end of W 4th Ave. The drive through town to
reach it is annoyingly like driving through any major metropolis with all the
major nationwide retail outlets found on one side or the other of the main drag
(Main Ave, also US550). PB and LoJ have different points as the highpoint, but
it appears the LoJ one is correct. We visited both on a 5.5mi loop with about
1,600ft of gain. aren't particularly scenic, save where they
pass by the and edges of the sloping summit
plateau, with views of the Animas River Valley. We wandered
in the vicinity of both , measuring
the eastern one to be higher by about 10ft, but finding neither very
interesting. The trails are mostly old, that aren't all
that comfortable to walk on. But at least we got a modest workout.
We spent a little under 2.5hrs on the effort.
Peak 8,980ft
This P1K lies south of US160 between Bayfield and Pagosa Springs, in the
southernmost part of the San Juan National Forest. Theresa Gergen had posted
a short hike on LoJ from a Forest road that gets close to the summit. We parked
at the same location and followed the old road, now called the
Pine Piedra Stock Driveway. We left the trail after less than a quarter mile
where it passes our summit to the east adjacent to . We
turned southwest to follow about 100yds to the
highpoint. There are vestiges of a use trail, probably just a game trail, but
it helped to keep the bushwhacking to a minimum. is found
in a thicket of scrub oak. If there was a register or cairn in there, we didn't
find it. Nearby is a view , a good place to take an
herbal break if that suits you. On , we noted thick clouds
forming which would portend of a different sort of day on
the morrow. We were at the Jeep by 3:15p and ready to call it a
day.
We headed back to Bayfield where we'd left Eric's car and had dinner there at
the Bottom Shelf Brewery. Afterwards we continued driving east on US160,
finally turning off at Forest Rd 725 on the west side of Wolf Creek Pass. We
would shower and spend the night here on the south side of the highway, which
would also be our jumping off point for our first peak the next day...
Continued...