Day 09 to headwaters of Rio Grande

The scenery today continued to fill me with awe. In the morning Nebo Peak and its glacial cirque (first photo above) seemed too beautiful to be true. We then descended into the willow zone around Nebo creek. Overgrown branches hid the trail and grabbed our legs but we were smiling. The sky was an unbroken azure and waterfalls plumetted all around. A moose burst through the undergrowth looking almost as surprised as us. I thought moose had only been reintroduced to Northern Colorado but, as I found out later, they had been brought back to the San Juan's as well. Cassi was particularly excited as meese (plural for moose- ha ha) are her favorite animal.

We came out of the wilderness briefly twice to cross 4wheel drive roads. The first was at the old mining district of Bear Town. The second at Stony Pass. Consequently we saw quite a few people. A group of 13 came by hiking so close together I thought they would step on each others heels. " Spread out. There is plenty to go around." I said but the herd instinct prevailed. "Give them a few more days. The wilderness will loosen them up." said Cassi.

The divide had been generally taking a westerly track since Wolf Creek Pass circumscribing the Rio Grande head waters. Mid-afternoon we stepped over a tiny trickle of a stream and started east. We had crossed the Rio Grande and not even gotten our feet wet. In fact we'd not even realized it till that night when we reviewed the maps. Our more recognizable milestone was meeting up with the Colorado Trail (CT) that goes from Denver to Durango. The CT and CDT would share the same tread for quite some time including the next 100 plus miles to Monarch Pass. We were excited because this brought the prospect of better signage and trail tread as the CT is much better funded than the CDT. As if on cue 2 forest service personnel walked up having just finished some trail maintenance. We swapped stories then they headed down, a smart thing to do in the afternoon as t-storms start to build. We fool-heartedly headed up.

A shepard's camp came into view above Stony Pass: white canvas tent, cord of split wood, Palamino horse grazing. The pastoral scene could not hide the menance approaching from the north. Cresting the ridge we decided to stop early. Thunder snow was blanketing the mountains just to the north (see photo below). We found a semi-protected spot and pitched tent. Miraculously the storm passed us by. We were still smiling.