San Juan Slog

Hi all, writing today from Pagosa Springs, CO, a lovely little town that seems to be indicative of what most of the supply stops in this state will be like; quaint, touristy and more upscale than those in New Mexico, for better or worse.  Everything is arranged along the bucolic San Juan River, and true to its name the place is full of hot springs fed spas interspersed with cafes and the like.  More importantly for the hiker, its all fairly compact, so getting around is rather easy.  The drive down from Wolf Creek Pass was spectacular as well, as highway 160 winds thousands of feet down to the valley floor, though a nearby forest fire smogged up the air a bit.  Luckily, I got a hitch easily with a doctor/ rock climber named Jay who also treated me to some coffee in town.  I still haven't decided whether I'll stay here tonight, but given that day passes to the springs are cheap and there is a fair in town tonight, chances are I'll elect to be lazy, again, and give the ole' knee some more rest.

The trail from Chama has been pretty much everything I had hoped and feared.  The San Juan Mountains are beautiful in a stark way very different from the Sierras in California, with less trees and more barren grassland up high, though perhaps that is more due to the lack of snow.  Wind has been the most persistent phenomena, as it seems to blow consistently all day and night at about 40 mph, with gusts up to twice that.  Often I find myself leaning at a 60% angle just to stay upright, only to topple over when a brief lull comes by.  Only the heavily forested sections can give any respite.  This is probably because the path tends to go up along the ridges and only drop to the valleys when absolutely necessary, but even then it never drops below 10,000 feet.  There have been several astounding views as the trail circles high above the headwaters of several rivers, as well a some cloud-bound peaks clad in stone covered sheets of snow, the proof or erosion in progress.  And all throughout the background are the ever present mountains, harbingers of climbs to come.

Fortunately, this has been a very low snow year, so the going is a bit easier than it might otherwise have been, but even with only about 10% ground cover, it can still be agonizingly slow going sometimes.  It has a different consistency than Sierra snow, being much looser and lighter, thus a small snowfield can turn into an exhausting slog through ice-crusted slush up to your waist.  As usual, forested areas and north facing slopes are the worst, and trail that traverses these areas is frequently buried and dangerous or tiring to navigate.  As an example, I elected to drop about 1,200 feet down a precipitous slope and hike up a valley floor, as opposed to traversing its length through snow at a higher elevation.  It required a much bigger loss and gain of altitude, as well as a near suicidal descent that was more like a controlled human avalanche, but in the end it felt worth it.  In the end, all the toil feels worth it of course (though one wouldn't know it given my epic bouts of swearing in the middle of the more draining postholing marathons), but it sure feels nice to be in town for a bit.  With that, I'll talk to you all later.