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The entire 28 miles drive in from Highway 114 was clear and lightly snow covered on 5/6. I have a stock Chevy Colorado and crossed both creeks without issue. Thankfully somebody had recently taken a chainsaw to some blow downs across the road. Once we left highway 114 I never saw another person until the drive back to Saguache.
We camped the night before at the CDT Eddiesville trailhead which is about .4 miles from the Stewart Creek Trailhead. It was freaking COLD overnight and we sat in my truck to warm up the next morning since it was around 10 degrees. I didn't sleep much between the cold and coyotes nearby making a lot of noise.
Camping at Eddiesville trailhead .4 mile down the road from Stewart Creek
Steady approach through the valley. There were lots of blow downs to hop over. The trail had about 2 inches of snow. Saw some big moose tracks but never saw a moose :(
At around 12,000 ft the snow got deeper, around 8-12 inches. We used snowshoes for about .75 miles to gain the ridge. Probably doable without them (we didn't use them on the way down) but I was glad to have them.
Snowshoe time.
Once on the ridge the snow was much more manageable. I ditched my snowshoes here and was fine the rest of the way in just my boots.
Some parts of the ridge were pretty bareSkirting the side of the ridge up to the summit. Did all of this in just my boots and poles and was fine.
Looking back at the last push to the summit.
The summit was cold but thankfully not windy. Excellent views in all directions and I was really glad we made this trip! I think this may have been the most remote I've ever been for a Colorado hike between the 28 mile drive in from the highway and never seeing another person outside of our group. This hike would have been much easier without snow, but the extra challenge made it feel rewarding!
#27 for my dog!
The hike down took half as long as the way up. once we hit the valley again the snow on the trail was melted and had turned to mud. Still no moose on the way back!
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