June 20: After making a quick stop in Alamosa, CO for some gas and stop by an outdoor sports door for a hiking map and bear spray I ended up in Fort Garland. I decided to spend the night in a hotel to organize myself before my hike the next day. After checking in and showering (it was glorious) I went to get dinner at All Gon’ Pizza. It was Saturday night and they had an elderly couple playing guitars and signing Merle Haggard and John Denver tunes. I spent most of the time in the restaurant on my phone researching my hike and making sure there were no wildfires in the area. When the guitar duo went on break the male guitarist tapped me on my shoulder and asked me where I was from. Maybe it was because I was eating by myself, or because I was playing on my phone the whole time, or because I was wearing a NY Rangers shirt or maybe because he knows everyone in the town that he knew I wasn’t from around there but either way it was nice of him to introduce himself to me. His name is Sonny and he is originally from outside Shreveport, LA. I told him I was travelling from Houston, that I also had lived in Louisiana for a time and that I was enjoying the show. He broke into his thick Cajun accent, thanked me and got back to it.
On the 18th I drove up into the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. It was about a 2.5 hour drive and there are two spots to park your car, a 2WD parking lot which adds about 3.5 miles to your hike or a 4WD parking lot. Well with my “new” Subaru forester I felt like I could brave the 4WD road. So brave I did, but freaking out I was, the whole time. It took me about 20 minutes to drive those 3.5 miles. I was scared I was going to blow a tire or bottom out or even worse damage something underneath my car but alas I made it to the top. My goal was to hike 5 miles the first day going up about 2000ft to the South Colony Lakes then summit Humboldt Peak (14,065ft) the next day which was another 1.5 miles and another 2000ft elevation gain followed by hiking back out to my car.
I got started relatively late since I had to drive from Fort Garland so I didn’t get on the trail until around 11AM. The beginning of the hike was relatively uneventful. I lost the trail slightly going over some boulder fields and some snow fields. I also got pretty close to a wild goat (to return later) but other than that really nothing to report on. Finally after about 4 hours of hiking (I am slow. I know.) I ended up at Upper South Colony Lake. I found a nice camp site right off the trail dropped my pack and relieved myself (This is important. Not just to gross you out, but it probably will). I turned to start setting up my pack and out of nowhere (it seemed) about 6 marmots ran out of the brush to my pee spot. I chill out for a few minutes seeing if they leave, but they don’t so I pick up my things and start hiking around the lake for another campsite. After about 30 minutes I couldn’t find one that was protected from the wind so I returned hoping the marmots had left. When I got back to the original campsite there were a few marmots but I decided to start setting up camp. After I finished setting up my tent and was getting ready to go “make” water, the marmots returned and started messing with my tent. Chewing on my tent straps and one even grabbed my hiking pole and ran away with it. I chased it and thankfully it let the pole go about 20 yards away. After this I packed everything back up and turned to leave and as I did there were six wild goats staring at me on top of a rock about 30 yards from me. I slowly moved away from them and they moved along down passed the lake. I finally settled on this patch of grass with no wind protection and looked up and 4 more goats were standing on the next hill staring me down. At this point I had moved my bear spray to my cargo pant pocket and continued setting up my tent. As I finished and moved to “make” water they moved down around my tent then followed me to the lake. I seriously thought they were stalking me. One of the bad things about camping by yourself is there is no one there to tell you to, “Relax they are just curious.” and “They are more afraid of you, then you are of them.” Coming from your own head it isn’t nearly as convincing. I quickly “made” water moved out of their way, took a roundabout way back to my camp site and I didn’t see them again for the rest of the night. I was pretty anxious the rest of the night but I made dinner, read a little and tried to go to bed early (I think I got in bed around 8pm).
The next morning I hit the trail around 645am. I only took the bare minimum to summit Humboldt which included water, food, warm clothing, medic kit and my camera. The rest of the stuff I left at the camp site. The food I left at the campsite I left in my “bear box” about 30 yards from my tent. The other items like my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, pillow, stove, etc I left in my tent. I also dropped my tent so it wouldn’t blow away (these details will matter later). I started my ascent and, God, was it a slog. If I went slow the day before, I was moving slothlike trying to get up this mountain. I felt tired and nauseous for the first 30 minutes and basically I had to just keep moving at an incredibly slow pace to not over exert myself. This is not to show how hard this hike is. This a relatively easy hike for this mountain range. This is more to show how bad I am at ascending in elevation. This has happened to me before and I don’t know if it is because I am not used to the elevation or I am not in good hiking shape or I am just naturally not good at this but regardless this is one of the easiest 14ers in Colorado (one of the reasons I chose it ) and it was kicking my ass. Most people I met on the trail were summiting the peak from the 4WD parking lot in one day. Granted they don’t have to carry a tent or a sleeping bag etc. but still, all of them were exponentially better at hiking that I.
I took me about 2.5 hours to go the 1.5 miles, 2000ft up. Not only was I moving ridiculously slowly but I had trouble staying on the trail once I got close to the top of the mountain because there was no trail. It was just a boulder field you had to climb up and I couldn’t see where I was going and I almost gave up at one point but I stopped, regrouped, ate some trail mix and continued. Finally reaching the top I could look east over the Wet Mountain Valley in Eastern Colorado and west overlooking Broken Hand Pass, Crestone Needle, Crestone Peak, the San Luis Valley and the San Juan Mountain range far out in the distance. I spent about 40 minutes at the summit eating and taking pictures then headed back down the mountain. It took me about 1.5 hours to go down.
Upon reaching my equipment I noticed 1.5” long cylinders around my tent. At first I thought they were some type of worm but I soon realized they were manmade and must have come from something inside my tent. SHITTTTT!!! Something got in my tent. I pulled the rain fly off my tent and saw a 3” diameter hole eaten through my tent and my pillow destroyed. Fucking MARMOT!!! I was so pissed, probably more at myself then anything but I don’t know where I should have left it and there was no way I was going to be able to summit with all that gear on my back. The silver lining is they didn’t eat my sleeping bag or my sleeping pad which I just got in Tulsa 4 days prior so that is good. The pillow was a piece of crap and hopefully I can repair my tent so maybe it won’t be so bad. I packed everything up and headed back down. Even with getting lost again on the way out, it only took me a little over 2 hours to get out. Once I reached my car I packed everything up and drove the 2 hour drive to Great Sand Dunes National Park.
Matthew