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North Eolus? As your finisher? Maybe there are some 13ers in the area you could go for...?
These were the kinds of responses I heard when I told folks that North Eolus would be my last 14er and that I was riding the Durango Silverton train and hiking in to Chicago Basin just to do it. Poor North Eolus, it began to feel like the Rodney Dangerfield of 14ers - getting no respect!
Ah well, I wanted to get all 58 14ers done and a previous trip to the Chicago Basin barely let us get Mount Eolus in due to some persistent rain and bad weather. After all, there could be worse places to have to go than the Chicago Basin, right?
I caught the 2:30 pm train out of Silverton which gave me a 3:30 pm arrival time at Needleton.
Heading In
The Animas River
I was determined to make good time to be able to set-up camp before dark and was thrilled to complete the 6 mile hike (3,000' elevation gain) in only 2 ½ hours!
Crossing the Animas
Home for the Next 2 Nights
Since the weather forecast was good, I was only going for one peak and I was tired from my hike in to the basin I decided to pass on the usual alpine start and ended up sleeping in until an unheard of 6:30 am. I lingered over breakfast, enjoying my surroundings and didn't get started on the trail until 8:30 am.
The View Over Coffee
The interesting thing about getting such a late start was seeing all the camp sites get overrun by about a half dozen mountain goats.
Pardon Me, but I Just Happened to be in the Area...
Moving In
The route up to Twin Lakes was beautiful and it was so nice to be able to see it better since the last time I was here it seems like we were either hiking up in the dark under headlamps or coming down in the rain and fog.
Due to my late start and that this time of year the basin is less populated I hardly ran into a soul as I made my way up to the Eolus / North Eolus ridge. Though I did see another mini-herd of goats.
The Goats' View Over the Basin
From the Eolus / North Eolus ridge I turned right and headed up towards North Eolus - my 58th and last 14er!
There was nothing in the way of cairns to guide you up the ridge, but there's such an obvious ridge line that really nothing is needed. The rock is very solid and grippy and at just after 11:00 am I reached the summit, #58 at last!!!
The Summit Marker Making It Official!
I didn't eat or drink a lot on the way up so maybe I was feeling the effects from that but also I was keenly aware that I didn't want to be the guy that summited all 58 of our peaks and then got into a bad situation due to carelessness - so yes, even though it was only North Eolus, I down-climbed ever so carefully off the ridge and began the long hike down to my camp site.
One of Many Twin Lake Waterfalls
The next morning it was time to break camp and head back out to the train.
Along the way, there were many beautiful sights...
...Flowers...
...More Waterfalls...
...Until, at last I was back at the Animas River bridge.
And the train to take me back...
As I was headed down a strangle feeling came over me which I'll try to put into words. How do you feel when you finally accomplish a goal you've worked years to achieve?
Hi Birdman – thanks for the memories. N. Eolus was my 1st 14er. I didn’t actually even know what a 14er was, but I went in there with a friend from the Purgatory Ski area and after a couple of days, we just found ourselves on the top. We just kept following cairns and going up until the top, and we saw that marker that’s in your 13th picture. It was 1988 and we were just teenagers, and couldn’t afford to take the train in. And we didn’t know there was an Eolus, or that there were other 14er’s or that it was a goal to climb them. I’ve been back in there a few times since then – it’s a nice area. John.
Another Great Finish Tale! The goats are crazy up there, they licked and slathered my poles with saliva. They don’t care where they get salt from. 1st and only time I had to hang my poles in a tree to keep them away from goats!
I got in there on a stretch of clear bluebird days and after getting those peaks blew off the chance to get that 13er! I regret missing that one after hiking in from that ski area!
I also had planned on finishing on N.Eolus, a couple of weeks ago. My wife was with me, and it seemed like a fun and low threat way to finish. Unfortunately that ugly weather forced me to turn back on Sunlight the day prior, so N.Eolus became #57. Beautiful approach and climb, though. Nice pix!
For some reason I didn’t think N. Eolus was a 14er back in the day when I did the other 3 peaks in Chicago Basin...I will likely make that one my finisher (plus I still need to stand on top of Sunlight’s summit block). Congrats on finishing the 14ers, hopefully your climbing quest continues.
Great report as always, thanks for taking the time to do these reports and spread the joy, each report is a "moment of Zen". Hopefully someday I will hit the Chicago Basin and enjoy those views.
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