Friday – Saturday, August 14-15, 2026
This weekend Diane and I were going to be spending most of our time visiting her friends who live along the Dolores River near Dolores and I was hoping that we would be able to squeeze in a short hike in the Rico Mountains on our way there. Although I typically try to avoid doing very many repeat hikes, back when I summited a few 12ers along the Calico Trail in 2020 I knew that I would someday want to come back to Calico Peak again with Diane and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to do that. It would also be a nice hike in remembrance of Tellico, our calico cat that passed away over three years ago who was known as Rico.
I left work early on Friday morning, picked up Diane, and we headed over the Dallas Divide and Lizard Head Pass to the foot of the Rico Mountains. We found a nice campsite near the Calico Trailhead and set up our tent with plans to spend a relaxing evening around camp. Of course, a short while later while we were reading in camp a large group of people dressed in costumes started setting up tables and awnings not too far away, so I wandered over to see what was going on. It turned out that they were setting up an Aid Station for an ultramarathon race called the San Juan Softie, which I had never heard of before but found out that it’s a 100-mile race with about 100 participants which had started in Purgatory earlier that morning and we were camped right near mile 52 where the runners would start following the Calico Trail. Had we not already set up our tent which was already wet from rain, I probably would have moved, but it was too late for that and I didn’t think they would be too loud. But I was wrong and once the racers started showing up later in the evening they would start making a lot of noise for each one and kept it up until about midnight.
After reading for a little while I went for a walk down the road near camp under dark clouds and between rain showers.
The sun would occasionally come out.
There was a good view over to the peaks that surround Ice Lake Basin to the east.
About an hour or so before sunset Diane and I went for a drive to tour the local scenery.
The light came out again as we drove up Fall Creek Road.
We went over to the edge of The Meadows to watch the changing light as many of the ultramarathon runners passed by.
Mount Wilson Ridge
San Juan Evening
We returned to camp shortly before sunset and went to bed after dark.
We were up before sunrise on Saturday morning and drove over to the West Fall Creek Trailhead so we could start hiking up to the Calico Trail just after sunrise.
Most of the West Fall Creek Trail is in the trees with no views until you get the top of the ridge where you can finally start to see the peaks of the western San Miguel Mountains.
Once we reached the top of the ridge we got our first view of Calico Peak on the other side.
There was also a good view across Horse Creek to Anchor Mountain and Expectation Mountain.
From the pass we started following the Calico Trail toward Calico Peak.
Diane & Calico Peak
Once we reached the saddle between Calico Peak and Johnny Bull Mountain we followed the ridge to the summit.
Diane is almost to the summit after a steep and rocky climb. Just like last weekend, I was having trouble keeping up with her.
Diane was sitting and resting on the summit when I arrived a few minutes later.
There was a nice view over Eagle Peak to the west, with Sleeping Ute Mountain and Mesa Verde off in the distance.
After resting and enjoying the views for a while it was time to start hiking back down.
Rocky Ridge
Diane thought she was going to slip and fall on the way down, but she never did.
Calico & Eagle
Johnny Bull Mountain is on the other side of the saddle we are descending to.
We followed the Calico trail back to the West Fall Creek Trail and then returned to the trailhead shortly after 10:00am.
Here’s one final view of Calico Peak on our way back.
