DESTINATION Generic 334 Photosets
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| West Weminuche Wilderness, CO | |
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| | West Weminuche Wilderness, CO | | | |
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West Weminuche Wilderness, CO
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| partners | | My busted knee, too much downfall, and a record winter riverflow took a lot of the gumption out of this trip and turned it more relaxing.
We showed up to our first night's airbnb cabin and it was full of dogs. The host couldn't be reached by phone but a one-legged garage sale lady drove up the road to fetch her. She had forgotten what day it was and her dogs were in heat so she had to keep them inside from the chickens (surely unrelated) so she upgraded us to a big cabin (doublewide).
The plan.
It was an awesome loop- a long loop but a good one. It started breaking down shortly after it begun with Ranger Son-I-think-we're-having-a-completely-different-conversation informing me that the Flint Creek leg of my loop was extremely full of downfall. I get that packing out other people's trash, and not having the resources to maintain trails for said people makes you jaded but this guy did not start out or finish liking me at all. He also said the river I was planning on crossing on my out (was full flow) and the bridge has been out for several years.
"You're not angry about the bridge being out?!?"
"I.. do you want me to be?"
"Yeah you should. You need to write some letters. You guys may be able to make it if you link arms."
So anyway, my painstakingly planned plan was dashed. I had saved an alternate way to do the whole thing but that would take us to Emerald Lake. While definitely being pretty, it's more traveled and you can't really camp within eyesight of either Little Emerald or the big one.
The first night we went past the Lake Creek trail a couple miles to find a quiet spot on the Pine River. Most of the hike along the river doesn't keep you very close to it. In fact the first 3mi are just hiking along barbed wire fenced off ranch land and is mundane. A lot of the later river is fast and rapidly flowing dangerously over the rocks. Our camp was at a slow bend in the river which was perfect for my sister's rod and reel. The hike in until bedtime was pretty rainy. We had just enough break to cook our meal and get a small fire going to cook her caught fish.
Day 2. We hiked back to the Lake Creek Trail and up and up and up to Little Emerald Lake. The trail is also used a good deal for horse tours so there's some poo filled hoof holes to navigate. After the Pine River junction, there's not many camp options. Once we made it to the lake, my knee was hollering and we went about finding a camp. There's plenty of signs decrying camping within a 1/4mi of the lake and there's plenty of fire rings and seats within that boundary. I admit I gray area'd a camp for that evening. We did not eat fish this night. We were all pretty tired and Noel's new thyroid regiment was keeping her slow and thinking about the rest of the trip too.
Day 3. I moved our camp in the morning to a spot just off the outlet creek. This placed us outside the lake signs and over 100ft from the creek water. While it had no lake view, it did have water access unlike the previous night's high steep camp, and also had a little rock oven built. I discussed abandoning the plan up to Rock, then to Sunlight, then back down the Vallecito to where we had parked our second vehicle and everyone was quick to be on board with it. This would be our home for a while. We all split up, Dana to fish, Noel to hike the trail to Emerald and paint, and I off trailed around little poking around, seeing what I could handle. The little oven worked great for more fish. A fawn and her momma would come through the creek next to camp in the morning and another deer would come sniff all around camp in the evening without any fear.
Day 4. More of the same. We all found plenty to do. I enjoyed the offtrail. I recommend goofing around between the two lakes. It's very lush, had the most wildflowers and mushrooms and interesting rusty finds. In the evening I used a little line kit I had brought and worked it onto my hiking pole. It worked pretty well.
Day 5. We decided to head back down the hill towards Pine again. Once we got to the confluence, we still had plenty of energy and the camps there didn't have slow river access. We thought why not go back to camp one since we knew it was a relaxing place and fishable. Plus no rain this time. Once we made it there and dropped packs, I decided to keep going and see about Falls Creek. I passed a couple of the longtime camps used by the horse guides. The river stay away for a little while again but also stays calm and winding. The valley opens up a lot and was more of what I had pictured the Pine River trail to be. I crossed the river at the falls. Did I mention the flies yet? Holy crap. Stop for more than a minute like to pull of your shoes, and you'll have 20 of them on you. Most of them are just regular garden variety and you have to accept their love, but 10% are the biting kind. the 100% deet stopped the mosquitoes in their tracks but none of the flies cared. All that beauty and the whole trip was flies. Playing cards by the water. Stopping for lunch. It was tolerably miserable if you didn't focus on it. The good part was, if you were hiking, or moving while fishing, or swimming, or night timing, they wouldn't touch you. So know that if you want to go here. Anyway, so I made it as close as I could to the falls. It was clear that they were better from a afar. I bushwacked a little up towards them but they fall from so high, there's no point IMO.
I made it back to camp super wiped out and got the girls a fire so they could cook MORE fish. We used the last of our butter and Tony's.
Day 6. We hiked out the way we came in. Those last 3 miles really are unrewarding.
We got our airbnb and found out THE place to get burgers (and breakfast) was the little general store/mexican restaurant. It's misleading I know but they have like 10 specialty burgers and they are amazing. We read all kinds of old Colorado and survivalist books at the cabin the rest of the day.
We didn't see any bear on the trip. We passed a trio of dudes all carrying 45's or maybe 10mm's and they had bells on their shoes. The neighbor's dog at the aribnb had 30 stitched from being bear swiped a couple days before.
Emerald lake and surrounding is about 85-90% dead standing trees due to the beetles. Once the trees start falling, I have no idea how they'll keep up trail maintenance there either.
More info: Emerald Lake is 248 feet deep with 280 surface acres and 12.0 miles of shoreline. The lake is the third largest natural lake in Colorado and only accessible by foot and horseback. The unique Cutthroat Rainbow Trout hybrid exists in the lake. This is one of the few self-sustaining rainbow populations found in Colorado.
Fishing is prohibited in the inlet of Big Emerald Lake and the inlet stream (Lake Creek) for 1/2 mile above Big Emerald Lake from Jan. 1 through July 15. Fishing in Little Emerald and Big Emerald Lake is restricted to the use of artificial flies or artificial lures only. Bait fishing is prohibited. The bag, possession, and size limit for trout is 2 fish, 14 inches or less in length. |
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Wildflowers Observation Substantial
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May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
Armchair Crisis Design |
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