Day 182 on the road: Backpacking in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness, hiking a ‘fourteener’

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – This weekend I teamed up with Michael and Lizzy and their dog Juniper to backpack into the Sangre de Christo Wilderness and conquer one of Colorado’s “fourteeners,” Humboldt Peak. We were worn out at the end, but the scenery rewarded our effort.

The trailhead is 93 miles southwest of Colorado Springs. When we arrived Saturday morning, we were planning to drive my Ford F-150 another two miles up a forest service road to an upper parking lot. About a half mile up, we encountered what four-wheel drivers call a “crux” in the road—a challenging spot that’s difficult to pass. After assessing the degree of difficulty, we decided to turn back and begin our hike at the lower, “low-clearance” lot.

From there, we hiked 5.5 miles with our backpacks to a camping spot near the lower of the two main South Colony Lakes. The lake is 11,666 feet above sea level, a 2,600-foot elevation gain from where we parked the truck. The area was popular with weekend backpackers and we could see why. The views were spectacular of the surrounding fourteeners—Crestone Needle (14,197 feet), Crestone Peak (14,294 feet), and Humboldt Peak (14,064 feet)—and water was plentiful.

On Sunday, we set off at 9 a.m. to hike Humboldt Peak. The trail took us 1.9 miles and 2,400 feet in elevation gain past the upper South Colony Lake, then up a series of switchbacks to the ridge of the mountain, then up the increasingly rocky ridge to a false summit. (At times we could only find our way through the boulder fields by the cairns, or stacks of rocks, left by previous hikers.) From there it was just a short distance along a ridge to the real summit. At the top, we enjoyed a half-hour rest, some lunch, conversation with a few fellow climbers, and wonderful views of the nearby peaks and the adjoining valley.

Here’s the view from the trail up Humboldt Peak looking back on the South Colony Lakes. Our campground was over the creek at the bottom of the lower lake. That’s Crestone Needle towering over the valley.

Photos below clockwise from upper left: 1) on the ridge of Humboldt Peak; 2) along the upper ridge near the false summit; 3) Juniper, “the best dog,” at the summit. (This was Junie’s first fourteener!); 4) Michael and me at the summit of Humboldt Peak.

Our camping area was home to a flock of (not so) big horn sheep. Lizzy said they were mostly females with one or two younger males. They would surprise us by bolting past the trail near our tents. They were shedding their fur. One left a big clump near my tent and another a calling card of a different sort, which complicated my packing up when we were ready to leave.  (If you look closely at the second photo, you can see one of the sheep taking care of business on a nearby rock.)