At what point along your route could you hike out and call it quits (or hike out for help)? Plenty water sources, every day at least 2. After going up a series of switchbacks, I had reached the Twin Lakes by around 7:15. They must not have found much in this one and abandoned it. Hiked from elk park to needleton 7/1/2022-7/4/2022. Ride the train to a day of ziplining on the longest course in the US. I knew the vegetation was still wet from last evenings rain, and didnt feel like being soaked to the bone if the trail happens to go through dense foliage. We use the Therm-a-Rest Vela Double 20 quilt. I found nothing that was going to be snow free and chose the Gila. As with the other days, we passed many streams and waterfalls on the way up. I used a Deuter Kids 40 pack (it has an adjustable torso section for short people!) Not long after, we watched the same goats cross the creek and head towards our general area. I dont know why these animals are so persistent about going to a specific location when there are humans there. See the beauty of the San Juans on a guided tour. After being in the rain all week, we were still getting rained on during the train ride back. We are early 50s, fairly fit experienced hikers from Durango, and we gave ourselves 5 nights/6 days. Our brakeman Sam was a wealth of knowledge about any kind of train-related questions we had. Tips for Camping With Your Kids in Durango, Colorado. The Twin Lakes were still in the shadows, as the sun had not yet risen high enough to illuminate it. After 6 days of hiking, we couldnt wait to get to the hotel. It was slippery and a little scary in the rain. There is no road access to either the Elk Park or Needleton trail access points. Thanks for sharing. Bugs were pretty bad this year. Also, this area of the Weminuche has quite the rodent population. In summer, you may want to bring along a bug net to fit over your hat to protect yourself from mosquitoes, gnats and black flies. Will b taking my 19 yr old son in early August this year for his first extended back country pack trip. Past that meadow, the trail begins to climb past the treeline. This was a pizza by the slice kind of place, and the slices were enormous! During the summer months, May-October, adventurers can access the wilderness from the Durango train. You ride the Durango/Silverton Steam Train and it drops you off. Where the lake began to drain out down the mountainside, there were remnants of an old dam here. We passed 2 guys who had asked us how far Roell Creek was, but I wasnt familiar with that one. The rocks were still icy and required some careful footwork in some spots to negotiate. We followed Bear Creek down to the Rio Grande by following the 4wd road and used our sat phone to arrange for transportation to Silverton. Call the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad at 1-888-872-4607 to book and make your reservation. Todays hike will take us down by Kite Lake, over Hunchback Pass, and all the way down to the Vallecito Creek bridge, near Johnson Creek. If I were to do it again, I wouldve done a few more miles the first day - theres a nice campsite before the first peak. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from May until September. Closing loop Needleton - Elk park - Durango Forum - Tripadvisor Your email address will not be published. It felt good to be hiking today its amazing what a little sunshine can do. This is the beaver pond that people often reference when hiking this section of trail. Just as I hit that switchback, a few hikers came into view on the way down from the CDT. The only stop on the southbound trail in the afternoon is Elk Park. Next stop: Wilderness. I headed up and made good time moving through here as it was pretty easy. You write quite well. The water was deep and fast flowing here. There was a snowshoe hare, or multiple hares, that I kept seeing as I gathered wood. I dont know which to trust, but it was a long day regardless. Vallecito Basin, which lies below Columbine pass, was pretty nice. However, after she mentioned it a few times I could tell she really wanted one, so we gathered the driest firewood we could find and used our garbage to start the fire. I figured the total mileage for today would be about 14 miles, but everything after mile 4 or so would be downhill. Ill send this to your email as well. I wanted to make it farther though, and we pushed on to about 5.5 miles where we made camp along Elk Creek, elevation ~10,300ft. There was a new amazing view after every turn. We may earn a commission when you use one of our links to make a purchase. It was one of our Black Diamond Alpine carbon trekking poles, which was extra sad. The unincorporated community of Needleton is very secluded east from the Highway 550. Its easy to explore the Colorado wilderness from the Durango train. DRGW.Net | Elk Park, CO I'm a traveler who loves to eat. After lunch, the trail had gained enough elevation to start giving us some better views as it passed alongside some cliffs. However, Im sure you could find a clearing to put a tent somewhere. Get around Durango in style with rental vehicles. Colorado Adventure 2022 San Juan Mountains Weminuche Wilderness Elk Park - Needleton Loop - YouTube Backpacking trip in the San Juan Mountains in July 2022. Great backpacking experience!! Your monthly pledge helps me bring you more quality hiking and outdoor adventure videos, trail guides and content. We didnt take the train so we started at Molas Lake and walked to Needlestop. A really incredible trip with unbeatable views! We passed many more campsites along the trail shortly after leaving our camp this morning. Would you advise camping at Twin Lakes? Parking is available at the Silverton Depot at no charge. The Durango-Silverton railroad heading north to Elk Park. It was very quiet once the train left Elk Park. Maybe, MAYBE in a low snow year but from what I can tell the west is getting quite a bit of powder this year so my guess would be July before the route is fully snow free. Check out this 17.3-mile out-and-back trail near Durango, Colorado. We spend a good while collecting firewood, but as wet as it was, it was a bit of a challenge. Lisa spent the morning chasing away mountain goats. We ended up eating at Diorios Pizza which was pretty good. Thats why, if you come from a lower elevation like us, I recommend easing yourself into it while youre preparing for the Elk Park to Needleton hike! All we could do is move downhill as quickly as possible, and after descending another 1500 feet or so, all was well again. I modified my workout regimen before this hike to try and strengthen certain parts of the leg muscles that support the knee function, some intense stair climb sessions (45lb pack), as well as doing a lot more stretching. The times we've done this, the train departed Silverton about 2:45 PM and dropped us of by 3:45 PM. The Elk Park to Needleton loop in the Weminuche Wilderness, to be precise. The plan was to camp at either Kite Lake or Eldorado Lake, whichever looked more appealing. While it did have some beautiful parts, Particularly at the top of the Continental Divide and Columbine Pass, I was disappointed by the avalanche debris in the first 6 miles and the lack of trail maintenance on the section below hunchback pass to the Vallecito Bridge. Besides that, she was very happy to have a day off to rest. Cell service is highly unlikely. They didnt seem afraid of humans at all. I just forwarded the link so he get get psyched up! Trail Name - Elk Park/Needleton Loop Location - Weminuche Wilderness in the San Juan National Forest, CO Park Type - National Forest, Wilderness Area Fees & Permits - None Length Of Time Hiked - 6 days, 5 nights Trail Type - Semi loop - Train drops you off and picks you up Miles Hiked - 48 Trail Difficulty - 8 Route Vallecito Creek Bridge to Chicago Basin. Elk Park Train Stop to Needleton | Map, Guide - Colorado | AllTrails Again, a lot of trees were down that we had to circumnavigate. Looking back up the way I just came down from Windom Peak. Really helpful report! Anyways, with breakfast in our stomachs and all our wet gear packed away, we hit the trail around 7:30. We were on the trail at 7:30, and saw a few more goats as we made our way out of Chicago Basin. At 36 miles in length, this trip would likely span four or five days for average hikers, and it offers the unique ability to ride the Durango-Silverton train to access the trail. My home area is the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana and am looking for a backcountry trip in Colorado. Elk Park Train Stop to Needleton Moderate (39) Weminuche Wilderness Photos (318) Directions Print/PDF Map Share Experience this 57.9-km point-to-point trail near Silverton, Colorado. Route Chicago Basin to Needleton train stop. The water is gorgeous. Two other climbers reached the top during my stay up here. I decided to take pictures of the lake later and just head up Windom now. (we were going from Needleton to Elk Park). Elk Park to Needleton Backpack Loop 5,560 views Aug 5, 2008 9 Dislike Share Save Elizabeth Black 394 subscribers From the steam engine train we backpack for 6 days on a 40 mile loop out in. Did this in and back turning around a waterfall. Miles Hiked 5.7 (summit Windom Peak starting from camp in Chicago Basin) The skies were fairly clear when I woke up at 5:30 this morning, but Ive grown weary of the weather in the Weminuche Wilderness at this point. Weminuche Wilderness - Elk Park to Needleton - The Wild Perspective There are two main access points for the wilderness: Elk Park and Needleton. We also brought along these touch-screen activewear gloves, Buffs to help protect us from sun (or keep our ears warm), silk thermals for a base layer, and a balaclava to keep warm at night. The best times to visit this trail are May through September. It's mainly visited for hikers departing on overnight backpacking trips into Chicago Basin. John Werner: Backpacking Weminuche Wilderness not easy, but worth the PDF Trip to Weminuche Wilderness, San Juan National Forest, Colorado Carry a comfortable pack with a water reservoir. There didnt appear to be any evidence of beavers here either. I guess thats good, because that was less people we saw on the other days. Excellent trip, lots of varied terrain, meadows, forests, small mountain ponds and lakes, avalanche tree slides, large and small rock slides, multiple high passes with great views. Lisa had a bit of trouble last year in the Maroon Bells when we hiked the Four Pass Loop, and I may have had a slight headache that first day as well. Dogs are also able to. It was only 11:45, so we had 3:45 to wait. Its too bad that we had already eaten dinner before starting this fire, because we still had hot dogs that we could have cooked tonight. Also, if youre looking for a GPX file, you can download that here http://metalbackpacker.com/gpx-files/. This hike is definitely a good one! The top of Hunchback Pass offered no views, as the visibility was around 200 feet. Needleton, Colorado - Activities and Events | San Juan County First week of June, the only people out there will probably be CDT thru hikers, and theyll be up against a lot of snow still. I wonder how they get to their homes, since there are no roads anywhere near here. This was our third trek on this trail. We were able to cross the creek by hopping rocks and logs, just as we were able to with every other stream crossing on this trip. Here, there were several more mountain goats hanging out on the rocks by a small pool of water. It might be tough to find a good alpine hike that early in the season. But, thats another story for another trip report. I updated this post to include a map of the Weminuche Wilderness, with trailhead locations marked. We saw 3 hikers coming down Hunchback Pass earlier as we were going up, and didnt see anyone else today until we got about a mile from the Vallecito Creek Bridge. Farther downstream revealed a tall but tiny waterfall before the land leveled out near the lake. That's $100 bucks round-trip for a train ticket! See this list of my favorite freeze-dried meals if youre curious about what theyre like. Either way, it was going to be another short day with only about 6 miles to cover. tnmule20 68 Posted February 10, 2022. tnmule20. It was around 1:45pm when we rolled into camp today. Molas Lake to Animas River via Molas Trail, Vestal Basin via Colorado and Elk Creek Trail, Stony Pass, ATV Trail 821, and Cinnamon Pass OHV Route. The weather looked like it was holding out as we neared the top, but it looked like it could turn bad at any moment. Discover this 6.9-mile out-and-back trail near Silverton, Colorado. I like these Sunski polarized sunglasses and Shady Rays sunglasses. Columbine Pass and Chicago Basin probably were the highlights of the trip -- incredibly high and scenic alpine country. There were many stream crossings and several large waterfalls that we passed, but due to the weather and number of miles we had to cover, we didnt spend any time checking most of them out.