Sunday July 1st-Monday July 9th

Wildflowers were at their peak during this leg. Dozens of types were out with a healthy number of pollinating insects buzzing to and fro.  The snow that had greatly slowed my progress has mostly melted providing good moisture for all life.

 

The rugged San Juan Mountains are formed from many types of rock most of which are rotten. I stayed exactly on the divide with one exception, a terribly rotten section of conglomerate that composes “The Window” next to Rio Grande Pyramid. Numerous times I ended up climbing on nearly vertical rotten rock with a full pack.

On the subpeak of Half Peak, the divide runs up the southeast ridge and through a rotten cliff band. I climbed over the perched scree on down sloping fractured ledges and worked into a chimney. The chimney had a couple large snow blobs left at it’s base. When I touched the first blob it zipped down the perched scree and off the cliff band. I stemmed over the second car sized blob and cleaned perched rot from every hold. After executing some weird body positions to get the pack through I managed to escape onto moderate ground above.

On the east ridge of Canby Mountain I fought to stay on the divide and literally crawled to the summit cairn.

At Rio Grande Pyramid I climbed the rotten south-southwest buttresses staying exactly on the divide with the distractions of rain, snow, and hail each blowing through.

I was fortunate to be traveling in a north to south direction as I probably could not have down climbed these three mentioned sections with a pack on.

 

The deer and elk are spending a lot of time above treeline right now. Up high there is a lot of forage, the temperatures are cooler, and the wind helps keep some of the insects away. The deer and elk look particularly beautiful in their fresh summer coats. The bucks and bulls are in velvet and their antlers are growing quickly. See photo on mammal page.

 

I had chance meetings with two groups of people from home and missed a third group by only hours at Stoney Pass. I also spent an enjoyable evening talking with the wilderness rangers. People are hiking, backpacking, and horseback riding on all the trails now that the snow is gone. And outside the wilderness there are many motorized conveyances zipping every direction. After four legs of the trip seeing no one on the divide, it was a big change to have company.