Sangre de Cristo / Wet mountains

Ah the fickle weather of Colorado. Tuesday was supposed to be thunderstorms during the afternoon in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in central Colorado but perfect on Wednesday.

So I was in no hurry to get out the door on Tuesday. All I wanted was enough daylight to scout out some potential lines on one of four targeted peaks; Horn, Little Horn, Flume, and Commanche peaks.

I got there quicker than expected and was doubly treated by the unexpected beauty of the Wet Mountains on the drive to Westcliffe. I admit that the Wet Mountains are what I pictured Colorado to be like when I was a kid and during that dream, of owning 100 square miles and being independently wealthy, where I would live was a close facsimile to what I was driving through.

Found a nice campsite in one of the cleanest campgrounds I've been to; you can tell it doesn't get much use.

I could tell from my topo map that a tangled web of trails led out. I could tell from reconoitering during the drive in, I wanted to hit either the North Face of Horn Peak or a nice couloir to the south of the summit of Commanche.

Horn Pk on the left, Commanche to the right of it. You can see the delicious couloir I wanted to crunch into.



So I checked out the approach and the trail junction. Solitude and trees is the best way to describe it.

The next morning woke up at 5:45 am to the wind howling. It didn't stop for the nearly three hours I was at camp and packing up. I've nearly been blown off mountains twice. Last year during my traverse of the Pawnee Ridge was the latest episode. I remember crouching down on a shelf on the north side of the ridge for nearly 15 minutes waiting for a respite in the bluster.

Not looking for a repeat, I cut my losses and decided to explore the Wet Mountains some.

First some pics of the Sangre de Criso Range and Westcliffe. I will be back.






Took a nice hike along Squirrel Creek. Then checked out this oddity called Bishop Castle.









Nearly stepped on these two little guys




Squirrel Creek


All handmade and open to the public on a donation basis. Bishop Castle looked a little to suspect to me to wander inside. Plus it was too cartoonish for my taste. But if it breaks tourists to the area, which in turn helps support the local economy, go for it.




Hardscrabble Pass. Nice granite, and some dubious outcrops too.