[Cdt-l] Trail conditions - Stony Pass to Monarch Pass

[Moynihan]

Thanks for all the detail through the San Juans, I'll be certain to mark my
maps up. I'm in Silverton after hiking 5 days from Pagosa, including the
drop off from Stoney Pass. Five of us navigated successfully, mostly with
map and compass. I am so thankful to having had the ability to hike with
others who are skilled map readers as I have greatly improved my own
abilities. I wore Vasque leather boots and the rest wore trail runners. Wet
feet all day, but that's unavoidable. They carried micro spikes, I carried
my mountaineering crampons and they definitely came in handy a few mornings.
The snow is almost entirely settled, so no avy concerns. Some steep
traverses, quite a bit x-c as most of the trail was under snow. The biggest
and most wonderful stretch was near Squaw creek where 3-4 miles of trail!
Beautiful, snow free, dry trail! Oh, the smell of the pine forest was
wonderful!
Worth every ounce of effort through here.
Heading out here in a couple of days, Tomato and myself.
Ben.....your tracks have completely vanished as we thought no one else had
been through yet!
Speedstick

On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 9:51 PM, Benjamin Mayberry <benmayberry at gmail.com>wrote:

> After hiking through Arizona, Utah and Western Colorado, I reached the CDT
> at Stony Pass on June 5th. I just completed the section from Stony Pass to
> Monarch Pass and thought I'd report on the conditions for any NOBO's that
> are about to enter that area.
>
> -Stony Pass to Cataract Lake - Ley CO37 & 36: lots of snow but there is
> bare ground in places as well. The route through this area is very well
> cairned and easy to follow. A backcountry ranger in Silverton warned me
> about avalanche danger in the Canby Mountain area. If you reach it later in
> the day, maybe consider a lower-elevation route.
>
> -Lost Trail Creek drainage below Carson Peak - Ley CO36: almost totally
> snow free until you climb back up to the divide to the east of Carson Peak.
>
> -Divide east of Carson Peak to west side of Jarosa Mesa - Ley CO36 & 35:
> snow on and off but overall pretty good. There is a forested hillside just
> before the #2 note on CO36 that is still completely covered in snow.
>
> -Jarosa Mesa - Ley CO35: the higher parts are covered in mushy, slushy,
> easy-to-walk-through snow. Everything is wet. Once you start to drop down to
> Spring Creek Pass, it becomes completely melted out.
>
> -Spring Creek Pass to east side of Snow Mesa - Ley CO35 & 34: no snow until
> you reach Snow Mesa. Snow Mesa is mostly clear but the drainages not only
> have snow but also rivers of water-saturated snow (consistency of a slushee)
> that are not difficult to cross, just really, really cold.
>
> -East side of Snow Mesa to pass just below San Luis Peak - Ley CO34 & 33:
> snow off and on, not as much as you might expect considering that most of
> this section is on the N side of the divide.
>
> -Pass just below San Luis Peak to Razor Creek Park - Ley CO33 through 30:
> no snow! Other than a little bit at either end of this section (i.e.
> descending from the pass, climbing out of Razor Creek Park).
>
> -Cochetopa Hills & Sargents Mesa - Ley CO30 & 29: some small patches of
> snow but the trail corridor is fairly obvious. Generally snow free.
>
> -Windy Peak to Monarch Pass - Ley CO28 & 27: lots of snow but there are
> breaks. The trail is generally easy to follow. Once you get to the N of
> Marshall Pass, you can avoid a lot of the snow by staying on the divide
> rather than the trail. You'll do some extra elevation gain/loss but it beats
> postholing.
>
> I hiked this section with the Ley maps, a pair of snowshoes, and a set of
> microspikes. The maps were all I needed for navigation, the snowshoes spent
> a relatively small amount of time actually strapped to my feet but were
> invaluable when I actually used them, and the microspikes helped a lot with
> traversing some of the slopes in the morning while the snow was still
> crusty.
>
> Hope this helps. I'm leaving from Monarch Pass tomorrow but taking the
> Colorado Trail (lower elevation than the CDT) to Twin Lakes, then taking the
> CDT from there to Frisco. I'll post the trail conditions for Twin Lakes to
> Frisco after I've done it.
>
> Ben Mayberry
> http://benmayberry.net
>
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>
>


-- 
*To find out more about Mary and her hike along the 3,000 mile long
Continental Divide Trail please go to*: www.marriedtothetrail.com
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