Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winter?

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acidchylde
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by acidchylde »

Costilla County has an online parcel lookup system. It's one of the simpler ones (no layer control), but does have an imagery background. Unfortunately the parcel boundaries and PLSS grid are the same color, and since there's no layer control things appear and disappear depending on zoom level. However if you click a parcel with the Identify tool, it will highlight it and zoom to the extent.

http://costillaco.mygisonline.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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KentonB
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by KentonB »

wineguy wrote:Too bad that nuclear testing has stopped, or we could establish a Class S12.
I've done that...

http://listsofjohn.com/peak/14139
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acidchylde
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by acidchylde »

TravelingMatt wrote:Interesting how one group starts from the premise of respecting property rights and the other says screw the barking dogs, I wanna climb something.
Sometimes it's not even private property rights, but just fed regulations as well. An interesting documentary on mountain biking and illegal trails appeared a while back on Netflix; not sure if it's still there. Something of a similar situation, although they were constructing illegal trails as opposed to just trespass. Perhaps the people who climb or BASE off buildings would be a closer analogy.

I would tend to agree with jsdratm though - there are always going to be people who want to just do whatever they want because some law/ownership/whatever seems unreasonable, unjust, or stupid to them. But unfortunately that minority has a lot more influence on access than those who want to work out compromises and not screw it up for everyone else.
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by mtn_nut »

If you don't feel like paying, "Operation Dark Snake" is illegeal, but is the only other route that has info out there.

Pm me if you want some extra info that i might have.
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painless4u2
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by painless4u2 »

huffy13 wrote:Am I assuming correctly that from Trinchera to Maxwell is public? And anything south of Maxwell is on private land? Looking at maps, it seems like that is the case, and if so, is there a trail that runs from the Purgatoire Campground to the Blue Lakes/Bear Lake area?
The road to Purgatoire Campground takes you to both a trail toward the 4wd jeep road going up to Trinchera Peak, above Bear Lake campground, and also to another jeep road to the left just before the campground. That road leads toward the summit of Maxwell and dead ends at treeline.
What's funny is I just fished Bear Lake this morning (and caught my limit!).
Bad decisions often make good stories.

IPAs + Ambien = "14ers" post (Bill M.)

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9
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huffy13
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by huffy13 »

painless4u2 wrote:
huffy13 wrote:Am I assuming correctly that from Trinchera to Maxwell is public? And anything south of Maxwell is on private land? Looking at maps, it seems like that is the case, and if so, is there a trail that runs from the Purgatoire Campground to the Blue Lakes/Bear Lake area?
The road to Purgatoire Campground takes you to both a trail toward the 4wd jeep road going up to Trinchera Peak, above Bear Lake campground, and also to another jeep road to the left just before the campground. That road leads toward the summit of Maxwell and dead ends at treeline.
What's funny is I just fished Bear Lake this morning (and caught my limit!).
So, if I wanted to camp at either Bear/Blue Lakes or at Purgatoire and tried to summit Trinchera through Maxwell (or vice versa), I could make a loop hike out of it and not have to backtrack and resummit all those 13ers by hiking that 4WD road?
Seems like the times that I need a mountain the most are the times that I can not get to them.
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by painless4u2 »

huffy13 wrote:So, if I wanted to camp at either Bear/Blue Lakes or at Purgatoire and tried to summit Trinchera through Maxwell (or vice versa), I could make a loop hike out of it and not have to backtrack and resummit all those 13ers by hiking that 4WD road?
Yes, but it would be a pretty long hike either way. I have summited both of them (Trinchera many times) and find just driving up to at least Bear Lake Campground for Trinchera makes for a much more pleasant hike, then drive over to Purgatoire. You could also do a backpack from Bear Lake to Purgatoire, summit Maxwell, then backpack to Bear. I can't imagine doing both in one day by only hiking.
Bad decisions often make good stories.

IPAs + Ambien = "14ers" post (Bill M.)

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by huffy13 »

It looked like it would be about 14 miles total or so. Long day and would only be done if the weather looked promising. Just an option I was looking at since I always like to research and find nice loop routes.
Seems like the times that I need a mountain the most are the times that I can not get to them.
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by TravelingMatt »

huffy13 wrote:So, if I wanted to camp at either Bear/Blue Lakes or at Purgatoire and tried to summit Trinchera through Maxwell (or vice versa), I could make a loop hike out of it and not have to backtrack and resummit all those 13ers by hiking that 4WD road?
You could, although if you don't have a car shuttle, it may be easier to partially go back the way you came.

When I did Trinchera to Cuatro I parked at the North Fork TH about a mile above the Blue Lakes campground. (Actually I parked along the road a little past the TH, but for navigation purposes on the return it's probably easier to just park at the TH.) From Cuatro I followed the ridge back to Leaning South, then dropped into the gully between it and Leaning North. You don't need to continue along the ridge proper towards Leaning North; you can sort of head down LS's northeast slopes. Once down in the gully I curled around Leaning North's east ridge. Eventually I hooked up with the road, It wasn't a hard bushwhack but I had to make sure I was trending north wherever possible.

If you go all the way down to the North Fork trail, from the summit of Maxwell or some other place, you'll still have to gain a fair amount of elevation one way or another to get back to your starting point. I clocked it at around 10 miles and 3700' to Cuatro and back; adding Maxwell would have added maybe two more miles roundtrip.
You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough. -- William Blake
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huffy13
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by huffy13 »

Thanks for the info painless and Matt!!! That helps a lot!
Seems like the times that I need a mountain the most are the times that I can not get to them.
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by TravelingMatt »

huffy13 wrote:Thanks for the info painless and Matt!!! That helps a lot!
No prob. The way is rather apparent once you're there to see it, but once I got around the flank of Leaning North the terrain kept lulling me into going east. However, the closer to true north you stay, the faster you reach the road. Take compass or GPS.
You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough. -- William Blake
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Re: Culebra Range- best north & south access points in winte

Post by Brian C »

Ha! That rating system is pretty hilarious. Most serious peak baggers in CO are very well-versed in trespassing so I'm not sure what all the grumbling is about. I guess this comes to mind...
Edward-in-Fight-Club-edward-norton-562432_1600_900.jpg
Edward-in-Fight-Club-edward-norton-562432_1600_900.jpg (72.17 KiB) Viewed 631 times
Teresa Gergen wrote:...Anyone know if CO has a similar clause about not being in violation unless you fail to leave the property upon request?
Hey Teresa! I'm not sure. I've heard some folks mention that but really have no idea.
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