Thursday, I was able to get away from the brewery a little early, so I finally managed to get in a hike I’ve been trying to do all summer. Pass Creek Trail runs from Coal Bank Pass up to join the Colorado Trail. From the junction, there’s a quick but treacherous spur that runs most of the way up Engineer Mountain. A trail guide will probably rate the trail “Moderate-Difficult” or somesuch, but don’t be fooled – excepting the last quarter-mile, the trail is wide, well-maintained, and only a gradual (albeit continuous) climb. And compared to Rysy, which will probably forever be my benchmark for difficult hikes, even the summit is a walk in the park.
The peak itself was probably blocking a few satellites once I got near the top. While the trailhead elevation is two feet off of the published value, a look at the topo map confirms that I ran out of handholds at roughly 12,500 ft, about 500 ft below the summit. Getting accurate and timely elevation fixes continues to be a problem. I don’t know if that’s a function of the iPhone GPS chipset, the software, or both.
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- The first view of our objective
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- Above treeline, the wildflowers are in full bloom.
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- Carmen the Flower Child
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- Rock glacier on the north face
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- Looking north toward Silverton…
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- And south toward Durango.
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- The last hundred feet or so are probably the safest.
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- It’s like something out of Dr. Seuss.
Name: Pass Creek Trail
Date: Aug 18, 2011 5:08 pm
Map: View on Map
Distance: 3.29 miles
Elapsed Time: 2:13:11
Avg Speed: 1.5 mph
Max Speed: 7.0 mph
Avg Pace: 40′ 26″ per mile
Min Altitude: 10,638 ft
Max Altitude: 11,864 ft
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