Window in the Wilderness

Creede, CO – The Window, a wet tent, mosquitoes, and a moose. These are my first memories from our recent overnight backpacking trip into the Weminuche Wilderness. We picked the Weminuche and Pine River Trails to hike while testing some new camping gear and headed out.

Rain in the distance

The Weminuche Trail leaves from Thirty Mile Trailhead located in the Thirty Mile Campground at the eastern end of the Rio Grande Reservoir, about 11.1 miles from CO Highway 149 on Forest Service 520. FS 520 is about 20 miles from Creede when heading toward Lake City. Once you reach the Thirty Mile Campground left turnoff, follow the well signed directions to trailhead parking. The trailhead is visible from the parking area. This is also the trailhead for the Squaw Creek Trail.

We started at the Thirty Mile Trailhead

At the trailhead, turn right for the Weminuche Trail #818 which climbs about 1,350 feet in 4.8 miles to the Weminuche Pass area. The trail begins with a gentle climb and even some downhill sections along the Rio Grande Reservoir dam and spillway. At 0.8 miles you reach the sign indicating entry into the Weminuche Wilderness. By 1.25 miles the trail steepens as it climbs the Weminuche Creek drainage through aspen and conifers. Cross a talus slope and a bridge over the Weminuche Creek and continue to climb steeply up to about 2.5 miles.

The trail climbs along the Rio Grande Reservoir

Climbing through aspen and conifers

Entering the Weminuche Wilderness Area around 0.8 miles

Trail crosses talus slope

Bridge over the Weminuche Creek

At 2.5 miles the terrain opens up allowing for expansive views. The trail winds through meadows, in and out of trees, crossing numerous small streams as you continue climbing at a much more moderate pace to the junction with Skyline Trail #714 near mile 4.8 and Pine River Trail #523 near mile 5.1. We opted to hike on the Pine River Trail as we were backpacking and wanted to camp below tree-line. From the time we started across the more moderate sections through meadows, the skies continued to darken with gray clouds moving through and occasionally dropping some rain on us. Time to use our rain jackets and pack covers.

Views opened up after 2.5 miles

Looking back toward the trailhead from the first meadow

The trail winds along meadows

Dark clouds increasing as Mike climbs an incline

The second meadow and rain in the distance

We continued on Pine River Trail to the junction with the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) #813. This took us past Weminuche Pass, through a long meadow, to an area which had great views of “The Window” and Rio Grande Pyramid. We opted to follow the CDT across the large meadow to look for a camping spot with about 8 miles hiked.

Along Pine River Trail

View from Pine River Trail

“The Window” (a notch) from junction of Pine River Trail & CDT

We turned onto the CDT which was well signed

One of the streams in the meadow

When looking for a site, we wanted an area that was mostly level without a rocky surface. We had more and more dark clouds moving in and thought about some trees to buffer for wind, but the area had a large amount of pine beetle devastation and we did not want any standing dead trees to topple onto our tent overnight due to the winds. We opted to camp in a more open area along the high edge of the meadow far enough out from tree-line to avoid any potential tree falls. We hurried to set up our tent as the weather continued to threaten more rain.

View from our campsite

Our campsite

We walked back to a creek to collect water to filter. We made dinner, ate, got unpacked, and settled into camp. We took all of our food, food trash, and other smelly items such as gum and toothpaste and placed them into our Ursack, a kevlar bag that bears, raccoons, etc… are unable to bite through (same idea as a bear canister but less rigid in your pack). Mike took it the requisite distance from camp (100 yards) and tied it off the ground away from rodents.

The Rio Grande Pyramid from our site

About this time the mosquitoes began to swarm. They had been present in small numbers throughout the day, but now they were thick, biting through our clothes and not slowed down by bug spray. Across the large meadow we could just make out a moose eating on the edge of the meadow and several deer a little further in. We also watched a wall of rain heading our direction and decided it was a good time to go in the tent. Shortly after climbing in, the rain and wind arrived. It rained hard for about 10 minutes. We went back outside to a short reprieve from the mosquitoes, marveling in the post rain beauty of the meadow and mountains for a bit before retiring for the night.

Pine River Valley in the morning

It rained at least one more time overnight and by morning the tent’s rainfly, the ground, and plants were soaked. It was a chilly night, probably in the mid to high 30’s at 10,600 feet elevation, so the morning sun was a welcome arrival. While eating breakfast, a male deer wandered near our camp and watched us for awhile before meandering on his way. After breakfast, we packed up including the wet tent. My rain axiom: If there is a 30% chance of rain when we go camping, there is a 100% chance we will return home with a wet tent.

View from our camp in the morning

Mike at a creek crossing in the morning

Another view of “The Window” in the morning

We headed back to the Jeep retracing our steps of the prior day. We enjoyed blue skies and a dry return trip, other than our feet from the wet vegetation. We spotted a moose in a pond in the middle of the meadow and saw numerous deer. This was a nice overnight in a very scenic region of the Weminuche Wilderness. With more time, there are many trails that could be combined from Pine River Trail to make a longer backpacking trip.