Beginner Backpacking in Colorado's South San Juan Wilderness

The Trip

Looking to learn or refresh backpacking skills? This beginner trip is for you. Our trek in Southern Colorado’s South San Juan Wilderness is a great location for an introductory trip in a high altitude setting. We will see open alpine meadows, sparse and stunted Engelmann spruce, alpine lakes, and exceptional, almost unending panoramic vistas, often hiking above timberline. Our daily hiking distances will be moderate. This will allow time for learning wilderness skills, natural history, relaxing, and simply enjoying the great outdoors. On the planned layover day, we can explore above the treeline along the Continental Divide Trail (CDT).

This trip is tailored to beginner backpackers who are interested in developing skills associated with wilderness travel. Basic instruction will be provided on topics such as: selecting and organizing gear, ensuring wilderness safety, reading topographic maps, cooking on portable stoves, picking out a tent site, and following Leave No Trace principles.

Our objectives are to enjoy some spectacular country, complete the trip safely as a group, and learn backpacking basics. While this is a beginner backpack, participants need to be fit, be dedicated to training to meet the demands of this specific trip, and invest in proper equipment. Wilderness travel brings a variety of challenges, including exposure to high altitude, primitive camping, extreme weather changes, and sore feet from carrying heavy packs. Each of us needs to be prepared to meet these challenges. A successful backpacking experience requires thorough advance planning and preparation. The leaders will provide pre-trip correspondence and information to help make this possible.

Day 1: Our trip officially starts in the early afternoon at a campsite near our entry trailhead. We will meet so that everyone can introduce themselves, check out our gear, and talk about our trip. We will need to shuttle a few cars to the exit trailhead. This will ensure a smoother start to our trip. A group dinner will be served.

Participants are encouraged to arrive a day or two early to start acclimatizing to the very high elevations we will encounter from the very beginning of the trip. Giving your body an extra couple of days to adjust to the elevation can often make a big difference between enjoying the trip or merely just enduring it.

Day 2: After serving a group breakfast at our campsite and taking care of final details, we will drive to the Red Lake trailhead. We plan to cover about 3 miles, gaining about 600 feet and losing about 200 feet. We'll camp near Red Lake at an elevation of 11,450 feet.

Day 3: Most of today’s hike will be above timberline with awe-inspiring vistas. We plan to cover about 5.5 miles, gaining about 500 feet and losing about 700 feet.  We'll camp by the Dipping Lakes at an elevation of 11,250 feet. About 3 miles into the day's journey we will join the CDT.

Day 4: We will take a layover day.  This will allow for relaxing or exploring along the CDT.

Day 5: On today’s hike we will walk along the Elk Creek trail, primarily downhill. We will set up camp in one of the many beautiful meadows along the Elk Creek. The day's journey is about 8 miles, with 1,400 feet of elevation loss and 200 feet of gain, with our campsite at about 10,000 feet.

Day 6: Today – our last day together – we will continue along the Elk Creek trail, about 7 miles, losing about 1,400 feet to reach our exit trailhead.

Note: Our hiking schedule is not rigid. How far we get each day and where we camp depends on how we feel, the weather, and other factors outside our control. The itinerary described here should be taken as a general plan, and the actual route and schedule may depart from it.

Getting There

Our entry trailhead is located about 23 miles from the town of Chama, NM off Colorado Highway 17. The campground where we'll meet is about 300 miles from Denver, about 200 miles from Albuquerque, and about 150 miles from Sante Fe and Durango. Trip members arriving from other parts of the country should explore the option of flying to one of these cities (Santa Fe and Durango have limited air service) and sharing a rental car or arranging a ride. We will send a trip roster to all participants well before the trip to help facilitate ride sharing. Specific driving directions will also be sent before departure.

Please do not make non-refundable travel arrangements until notified to do so by the trip leader.

Accommodations and Food

All on-trip meals are included in the trip fee, beginning with dinner on our first day and including lunch on our last day. We will provide a menu that appeals to vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. It is our goal to feed you well so that you are well-fueled for daily hiking. All cooking gear and stoves are provided. Trip members will be divided into cook crews to assist with preparing our meals and washing the pots and pans afterward.

Trip Difficulty

The trip difficulty is rated 2 on a scale from 1 to 5, where a rating of 1 would correspond to the least difficult of the trips that we offer and a rating of 5 would denote the most difficult. Mileage on our hiking days ranges from 3–8 miles, with a total of almost 25 miles for the trip (not including layover day hikes). Two of our campsites will be above 11,000 feet and the third will be at about 10,000 feet.

Although participation in this outing does not require previous backpacking experience, carrying a 40-pound pack on trail with elevation changes is physically challenging. Participants must be in good physical condition and be prepared for the rigorous physical demands of such a trip. The leaders will provide physical conditioning recommendations to participants.

Daytime temperatures will likely be in the 50s to 60s. Nighttime and early morning temperatures could dip into the upper 20s. Afternoon thunderstorms, lightning, hail, snow, and high winds can occur this time of the year. It is essential that participants be prepared for extremes in weather conditions, and also be flexible so that we can adapt our route to accommodate unexpected conditions or events.

Equipment and Clothing

A list of suggested personal equipment will be sent to all participants. (If you would like the list before signing up, let the leader know and he will send you a copy.) Each person needs to keep the weight of personal gear below 25 pounds (including your backpack and 1 to 2 liters of water) so that with the addition of approximately 12 to 15 pounds of commissary equipment and food total pack weight will be less than 40 pounds at the start.

We will provide all food and cooking equipment, although you must bring your own cup, bowl, and spoon. Some of the group equipment is relatively bulky; particularly pot sets and bear canisters. Your pack should be sufficiently large to carry an item about the size of a full paper grocery bag (alternatively, four or five one-gallon milk jugs) in addition to your personal gear.

Afternoon thunderstorms are common in the San Juan Mountains. Participants must be prepared for rain. For shelter, tents are strongly encouraged, and lightweight waterproof tarps are the required minimum. For rain gear, you should bring a waterproof-breathable jacket and waterproof-breathable pants, rather than a poncho.

In the months before the trip, the leaders will provide participants with detailed information about gear and clothing requirements to help ensure a safe trip.

References

Books:

This trip can be pieced together from several hikes described in:

• Ikenberry, Donna, Hiking Colorado’s Weminuche & South San Juan Wilderness Areas.

Information on flora and fauna in the area can be found in:

• Kershaw, Linda J., Andy MacKinnon, and Jim Pojar, Plants of the Rocky Mountains.
• Dahms, David, Rocky Mountain Wildflowers (a pocket guide).
• Tekiela, Stan, Birds of Colorado.

Maps:

• The National Geographic/Trails Illustrated map South San Juan, Del Norte (map #142) covers the entire route.
• The route is also covered by  the following 7.5 minute USGS topographic maps: Cumbres, Archuleta Creek, Victoria Lake, and Spectacle Lake.

The USGS maps are available by download or purchase at http://store.usgs.gov. The leaders will be carrying these maps (or parts of them), so it would not be necessary to bring these except for your own interest and curiosity.

Conservation

The Sierra Club is an environmentally focused entity. We are concerned about conservation and the sustainability of natural resources, both locally and globally. Our work is accomplished by volunteers and aided by a salaried staff, encouraging grassroots involvement. Our outings seek to empower participants toward greater understanding, advocacy, and participation in the goals of the Club. Participants are urged to share their experiences from their local activities, so we can all learn about new areas. 

We will travel lightly upon the land by learning and practicing Leave No Trace principles throughout the trip. For example, reducing our camp footprint by camping in designated campsite, and packing out all that we pack in (including food scraps). These measures will help keep the wilderness as pristine as before so that those who come after us will have the same sense of discovery that we will have.

"Do something for wildness." – John Muir

Sierra Club National Outings is an equal-opportunity provider and when applicable will operate under permits obtained from U.S. federal land agencies.