Friday, August 28, 2009
The original plan for this weekend was for me to meetup with Jan and do some exploring around the Canyon of the Ancients area. However, because a few people bailed on him and he was unable to check out the San Juans with them, I offered to show him around there instead. We’ll check out Canyon of the Ancients on another trip. Jan was looking for a good overview of the area, so we ended up running a number of the more popular trails in the area. I left work early on Friday and met Jan in Ouray. Our first destination was Governor Basin. This is a trail that I had not done yet, and was looking forward to it. I’ll definitely be headed back this way in the spring when the wildflowers are blooming.
View towards Yankeey Boy Basin
Headed up into Governor Basin
Jan stopped at an overlook along the way
Saint Sophia Ridge
Mountain Top Mine
When we reached the Mountain Top Mine we met up with Terry (Remote) and Joan from Grand Junction. They had mentioned that they might meet us on the trail, and they followed through.
On our way back down from Governor Basin, we decided to take the short loop over into Sidney Basin. It was a cool area, but would certainly be better in the spring with the wildflowers.
The narrow off-camber exit from Sidney Basin that I did not like very much….I would have preferred to go up this way instead of down.
When we reached Camp Bird Road again, we said goodbye to Terry and Joan and headed up into Silver Basin to find our campsite for the night.
