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South San Juan Sojourn: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak

South San Juans: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak

South San Juan Sojourn: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak

South San Juan Wilderness | Thursday – Saturday, August 20-22, 2026

It’s been just over three years since my last visit to the South San Juan Mountains and I’ve been wanting to get back there for quite a while. Initially, I was going to attend the annual GIS Colorado Summer Meetup this week, which was supposed to be held at the Big Meadows Campground along the western edge of the Weminuche Wilderness, and then I was planning to spend the remainder of the weekend hiking in the South San Juans, but that event was recently cancelled. Since I had really been looking forward to returning to the South San Juans, I decided to carry on with my plans and started driving that way early on Thursday morning. I took the scenic route along the Silver Thread Scenic Byway through Lake City and Creede to South Fork and then followed the Lake Fork of the Rio Grande to the Big Meadows Reservoir and Shaw Lake so I could at least check them out, even though I wouldn’t be spending any time in that area now.

Garfield Basin: Center Park Trail to Tungsten Pass

High Uintas Wilderness | Saturday – Monday, August 1-3, 2026

After spending Friday evening at a concert in Salt Lake City, I was up early on Saturday morning to meet up with Jared so we could head over to the Uinta Mountains and go on a two night backpacking trip into the High Uintas Wilderness. We had tried backpacking along the western end of the Highline Trail last summer from Hayden Pass, but that trip didn’t work out as planned because there was a brand new wildfire that altered our initial plans and then we encountered plenty of deadfall across the trail from an older fire that made the hiking difficult. We were hoping not to repeat that kind of trip again this year. After looking over maps I thought Garfield Basin looked like it would be a relatively easy hike to a large basin that is mostly above treeline and wouldn’t be too busy or impacted by previous wildfires, so that’s where we decided to go. As an added bonus, we would be able to briefly connect up with the Highline Trail near the top of the basin and visit a pass or two while we were up there.

Mancos Valley: Helmet Peak to The Knife Edge

La Plata Mountains & Mesa Verde National Park
Sunday – Monday, July 12-13, 2026

On Monday afternoon I was going to be meeting someone on Cedar Mesa, so I thought it would be nice to spend Sunday afternoon and Monday morning in the La Plata Mountains where I wouldn’t be too far away. A few weeks ago I was actually trying to decide if I wanted to spend this weekend in the Abajo Mountains or the La Plata Mountains, but the Babylon Fire ended up making that decision for me. After spending Saturday in the Gunnison Gorge it was much too late for me to leave that evening, so I went home, slept in, and then took my time getting ready to leave late on Sunday morning. After driving through the Uncompahgre Valley I left the smoky sky behind when I crossed over the Dallas Divide and then drove through a few much-needed rainstorms between Lizard Head Pass and Dolores. I stopped for dinner in Mancos while I waited for the afternoon storms to pass and then headed up Echo Park Road so I could hike to the summit of Helmet Peak, which is the westernmost peak of the La Plata Mountains.

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Cleveland Gulch: Cinnamon Pass to Schafer Basin

Mountains of Minerals | Thursday – Friday, July 2-3, 2026

This week I had Friday off from work for the Independence Day holiday and planned to spend it in the San Juan Triangle hiking around Cleveland Gulch from Cinnamon Pass to the ridge above Schafer Basin. Although there are quite a few large wildfires burning in Colorado, Utah and Arizona right now, this particular area was being spared from most of the smoke and seemed like a good place to go. I left from work on Thursday afternoon and initially thought I was going to have to drive the long way around to Lake City since Highway 550 had been closed earlier in the week due to the Gold Mountain Fire near Ouray, but luckily it had just been reopened on Wednesday afternoon. When I stopped to top off my gas tank in Montrose I double-checked COtrip one last time to make sure that Highway 550 was actually still open, and it was, so I carried on driving towards Ouray. Of course it figures, by the time I made it past Ridgway the road had been closed again! Thankfully, this time traffic was just being rerouted on County Road 23 instead of having to go the long way around, so it only slowed me down a little.

East Fork Loop: Frigid Air Pass to Hasley Pass

Maroon Bells – Snowmass Wilderness | Friday – Saturday, June 26-27, 2026

This weekend I returned to the western side of the Maroon Bells – Snowmass Wilderness near Crested Butte so I could get in a nice alpine day hike on Saturday morning. Although I was initially planning to hike in a different area of the Wilderness at first, when I saw that the weather forecast was calling for rain overnight I though it would be a good idea to change up my plans and hike into the East Fork of the Crystal River just below Schofield Pass so I could quickly get up above treeline since I hoped that there might be some low clouds surrounding the peaks on Saturday morning at sunrise. Unfortunately, this weekend was a good reminder of why I usually avoid heading over to the Crested Butte area before Labor Day since getting around before and after the hike was kind of a pain in the ass, but since that’s probably not going to be an option for me this summer I thought I would make an exception and try going earlier in the season.

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Category: Exploring

South San Juan Sojourn: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak

Garfield Basin: Center Park Trail to Tungsten Pass

Mancos Valley: Helmet Peak to The Knife Edge

Cleveland Gulch: Cinnamon Pass to Schafer Basin

East Fork Loop: Frigid Air Pass to Hasley Pass