We Do Stuff: San Juan Mountains

Jagged Mountain 13,830'
Trinity Peak 13,816'
Pigeon Peak 13,977'
Turret Peak 13,837'

July 3-6, 2024

Justin and I have causally been ticking off the Colorado Centennials, the highest one hundred mountains in the state, over the past several years. We were left with just five peaks, all in the very remote San Juan range in the southwestern part of the state. Given the effort and time required to get there, I was convinced that we could tackle them in one, or maybe two, trips. I started reviewing maps, trip reports and route descriptions and came up with a plan. We would try to tag Pigeon, Turrent, Jagged and the newly added Trinity in one trip and come back with Hazel and friends to finish our list on Jupiter later in the summer.

By far, the easiest way to access these peaks is by taking the Durango Silverton narrow gauge railroad into the wilderness and hiking from there. We decided fourth of July weekend would be an ideal time since we would have an extra day off work and it wouldn't interfere with our other summer plans. I booked the train tickets and we were headed for the wilderness!

Durango Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad

On the morning of July 3rd, we got up early and dropped Hazel off at Granny's house. Not a cloud in the sky and a zero percent chance of rain for the extended future. We couldn't believe our luck. We drove to Silverton in time to catch the 2pm train to Elk Park.

Train ride between Silverton and Elk Park

From the Elk Park short stop on the Animas River, we followed the Colorado trail for a few miles before taking the turn toward Vestal Basin. We found an amazing campsite below Vestal Peak and set up our tent. With bluebird skies, we didn't put the rainfly on our tent. It was fun to reminisce about the last time we were here and laugh about how ambitious we were in our younger years when we ran in from the Molas Divide, climbed Wham Ridge, traversed to Arrow peak and still had energy to climb Lizard Head the following day, and still make it home for work on Monday.

Our camp high in Vestal Basin

On the morning of July 4th, we got up at 6am, packed up our camp and ate breakfast. We found a clear view of the mountains and evaluated our route up from there. There was a short but cold stream crossing to start the morning off before heading up a steep and loose gully to the saddle between Vestal and West Trinity. We were carrying all of our backpacking gear with us over the Trinity peaks since we would head south from there and would not be returning to Vestal Basin. We enjoyed the climb and made quick work of West Trinity and Trinity Peaks.

Justin headed toward the saddle between West Trinity and Vestal

When we got to the saddle between Trinity and East Trinity, we tried to find a place to hang our backpacks so we didn't have to carry them up the class 4/5 gully to East Trinity. Our plan was to return to this saddle to descend down toward Balsam Lake. Justin found a great crack and shoved his hiking poles in creating a nice hanger for the packs. Unfortunately the weight of the packs was more than the carbon fiber poles could handle at that sideways angle and both of his poles broke in half without warning. At that point, we gave up on hanging them and decided to just run up the peak and back before the marmots discovered the packs.

Summit of Trinity Peak

Some slightly technical terrain on East Trinity Peak

After climbing East Trinity Peak and returning to the saddle, we again reviewed the map and our intended route. When we planned the trip, we were able to find various trip reports and gpx files that would piece together into something resembling what we were attempting. The only part of the route where we could find no beta was the descent south from here. I believed it was passable based on the topo maps, but sometimes those don't really reveal the true terrain. Fortunately, the decent was uneventful and we quickly found our route around Peak Seven on the East side where we joined the Kodiak High Route.

Justin on the Kodiak High Route

Although the Kodiak High Route, also called the Weminuche High Route, is a documented route from Durango to Silverton, there was no evidence of a trail. The terrain was rugged with lots of boulders and the occasional cliff band to work through. Our lowest elevation of the day was 11,700' where we started and once we crossed 12,000' we never descended below that again. I was surprised at how tired I was by the time we finally started ascending Leviathan pass, our final climb up to 12,900' before descending to Jagged basin where we would camp for the night. The route for the day had only clocked in at 6 miles with approximately 5,000 feet of elevation gain. On paper, it seemed easy, but in reality, that took us over 10 hours to accomplish.

Resting and refilling water before the final push up Leviathan Pass

Camping right below Jagged was peaceful and we were both surprised that no one else was there, even on a holiday weekend. There were no clouds in the sky and the stars were spectacular. Not wanting to start too early, we slept in and waited for the sun to reach us around 7am. We casually made our way up Jagged working around a few remaining snow patches and were standing on the summit before 9am. Returning to our tent, we chased off a few marmots and packed up for the hike over to Ruby basin.

Jagged was steep

Jagged was exposed

Jagged was technical

Summit of Jagged Mountain

The hike over Jagged pass was fairly easy as the terrain had become more tundra and less boulders. The wildflowers were spectacular and I took way too many photos thinking about how much Hazel would love them. As we descended into Noname basin, the route got rugged with downed trees and brush blocking our path. I was happy to get above tree line again as we climbed toward Ruby pass and the shoulder of Monitor Peak. From the summit of Ruby pass, we found a good trail and were able to follow that down into the basin North of Turret Peak. This was Justin's favorite part of the hike. The Turret Needles are extremely impressive and we felt special hiking down into Ruby basin where we set up our camp for the night.

Tricky route finding between Jagged Pass and Ruby Pass

Water stop while bushwhacking through fields of wildflowers

Our route up Ruby Pass from Noname

Waking up in Ruby basin, there was frost on the grass and a chill in the air. We got moving pretty quickly again taking all of our gear with us. We ascended the couloir between Pigeon and Turret. Leaving our packs at the saddle, we made quick work of Turret with a short detour over to check out Peak Fifteen. Returning to the saddle we shouldered the packs and traversed around to the West side of Pigeon where we found an ascent route to the summit. At the summit of Pigeon, we were able to get a bit of cell service for the first time in days so we checked in with Grandma and Hazel.

Our camp in Ruby Basin with Pigeon Peak behind

Justin checking out the summit register on Turret Peak. We saw the names of many friends and acquaintances who had been there before us.

Summit of Pigeon Peak, very exposed

Once again, the route on paper was very deceiving. The descent from Pigeon down to the Animas River was only a couple of miles, but the steep terrain along with downed trees and bushwhacking was pretty serious. It took us three and a half hours to cover two and a half miles. By far, the least enjoyable portion of the entire trip and an area we will try to avoid in the future. We spent the night camping near the train tracks in Needleton. In the morning, we had a few hours before the train would arrive, so we utilized the time to try to leave the place better than we found it. We cleaned up two large bins of rubbish that had been left by previous visitors.

Overall, a phenomenal weekend out in an incredible part of the state. Thanks to both Granny and Grandma for hanging with Hazel.

Justin on the bridge over the Animas River at Needleton after an amazing few days in the backcountry. We only saw one other group of 3 from when we left the train until we returned to Needleton.