It’s All Downhill From Here, Right?

Colorado Trail Days 27 & 28 – Spring Creek Pass to Cataract Lake, 22.8 miles

It’s all downhill from here! That’s the joke on every long trail when you reach the highest point. Of course it’s not actually true, but it’s always an accomplishment to hit that high point.

The high point on the Colorado Trail is towards the north end of the San Juan mountains, not far out of Spring Creek Pass near Lake City.

My couple of days in Lake City had been very social. There were well over a dozen thru-hikers in town and it was such a small town there were only a few places we could hang out. It was a lot of fun to share meals and swap stories about trail life.

The wonderful folks of Lake City run a hiker shuttle every day around noon. A bunch of us went for breakfast together then hung around the hiker welcome center until it was time to leave.

Our shuttle driver pulled up in a big pickup truck. All the bags went in the backseat and all the hikers went in the truck bed! Everyone squeezed together for the 25-minute drive to the trailhead at Spring Creek Pass.

We had wonderful 360 views as we made our way over Jarosa Mesa. I really loved the view north of San Luis Peak and Snow Mesa.

Water would be scarce for about 10 miles of this next segment so most of us opted to stop and camp at the last water source, about 9 miles from the trailhead. It was also the last forested camping spot, offering a last bit of protection before we got above tree line.

The next morning we cameled up with extra water and started the gradual ascent to the highest point on the Colorado Trail. The trail stayed high on a series of grassy plateaus, each one higher than the last. We had sweeping views east and a few impressive views west of Lake San Cristobal and the soaring peaks of the Uncompahgre National Forest.

We were also in the company of many marmots and very busy pikas. Watching the marmots trundle through the meadows, their tails spinning for balance always makes me smile. I also love to play “spot the pika” trying to figure out where the “meep!” is coming from. There were lots of pikas amongst the rocks, collecting grasses to insulate their dens for winter.

We reached the high point by late morning. It’s one of the few areas on the Colorado Trail that you’re over 13,000 feet. We celebrated with a long break, soaking in the views around us.

The afternoon started with a steep descent to some jeep tracks before turning up the lush Lost Trail Creek valley. We followed the valley upwards, ascending with some pretty steep trail, and crossed through a pass.

It was really starting to feel like we were in the San Juan Mountains. There were so many distant peaks and everything was starkly beautiful.

We stopped a bit early, having hiked about 14 miles. I was feeling tired from the effort of all the elevation gain through the day and there was a small and scenic alpine lake that was a great backdrop for our camp.

Tomorrow we’d venture deeper into the San Juans.