Colorado Continental Divide Trail
Mom & Jigchen standing next to a cairn near where you exit treeline just below Snow Mesa. This cairn stands approximately 6 feet tall...someone had a lot of time on their hands!
This plump chipmunk was really enjoying the view until I came along.
At the base of Snow Mesa the pikas were very busy plucking whatever vegetation was available for the long winter ahead.
The quarter-mile climb up Snow Mesa escarpment was rocky but yielded fantastic views of the Animas Valley to the west.
Snow Mesa - at 12,200±feet - appears to go on forever. My first thought was that Jigchen would be reminded of her Tibetan homeland immediately; I was not disappointed.
Looking due south the mesa appears to weave and dodge continuously as far as the eye can see.
Looking due west you can see Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn.
This is a typical cairn on the mesa top marking the trail.
Jigchen offered to carry mom's pack all the way up to Snow Mesa as mom was now two miles higher than her coastal home!
Dad (74 yrs), Kris, and Topden hiked 40 miles along the Continental Divide from the Saguache to Lake City areas in 5 days.
The fall colours were well into the change up at this elevation.
They made it!
Kris - in an unguarded Filipina moment.
The headscarp of the Slumgullion Slide near Lake City. This thing still moves something like 20 feet a year!
The lower reaches of the slide.
The camprobbers of the High west.
What trip through Lake City is complete without a stop at the Packer Massacre site? Our kids and Topden were unfamiliar with his story