Summer is short in the mountains. I've been up to the Silverton area twice so far. It's on my list to get over Red Mountain Pass to Ouray and Ridgway.
But this past Sunday, I went for a radical change. I went east, over Wolf Creek, with intent to play tourist in Creede and go part way up Slumgullion pass to an awesome waterfall I remembered from 30 years ago.
As I headed up Wolf Creek, I realized how long it's been since I'd gone that way - 2013, I think. More evidence that I don't get out of the neighborhood enough.
As in the past, the mountainsides covered with dead conifers were impossible to ignore. But this time I noticed something else - the number of still green full-sized trees in the midst of that desolation. Do those survivors have something that makes them more resistant to insect infestations? Something that could be passed on to their offspring? One can hope.
I got to Southfork and headed north along the Rio Grande to Creede. My plan was to go up Slumgullion first before afternoon storm clouds might close in. My 30-year-old memory had one way out of town and up the pass on an unpaved road, but the direction sign to Lake City (52 miles) pointed the other way. I followed it.
Highway 149 continued west along the river, past summer cabins, dude ranches and maybe even some working ranches. The road turned north and started climbing. I was quite sure this wasn't the way I went 30 years ago, but I stayed with it. I started to think about going all the way to Lake City. What the heck...
The road plateaued out, and there was a sign for North Clear Creek Falls, just a short distance off the highway. This is definitely a place to stop and spend some time. Is this the waterfall I remember from the 1980s?
Could be. It's awesome and can be seen from several vantage points, some via an easy path with a fence along the drop-off, others that involve some scrambling and no protective fences. There's a jumble of very interesting gray lichen-covered rocks along the edge. I'd recommend against walking out on them for a better view. There are other less risky places for that.
There's a potty house there and a couple of picnic tables, so if you bring a picnic lunch, this would be a good place for it.
After lots of photos, I got back on the highway. The road started twisting and climbing, up over Spring Creek Pass, which I'd never heard of before, and on to Slumgullion Pass. Yes! I hadn't gone totally astray.
Unfortunately, this is another area of mountainside after mountainside covered with dead conifers, maybe even worse than Wolf Creek. I kept thinking that there needs to be a moon shot-scale state and federal effort to get those trees removed before a massive wildfire does it, and takes the surviving trees as well.
As I reached the top of Slumgullion, there was a removal effort. It was really ugly, but interestingly enough, there were abundant wildflowers amid the wreckage.
From there the road snakes down past Lake San Cristobal, past the alleged Alferd Packer cannibalism site, past lots more vacation cabins, into Lake City. There's a tiny but picturesque and historic downtown, complete with wooden sidewalks. I checked out the shops and somehow resisted buying some new tie-dye. It still pains me to think about that.
By the time I headed back over Slumgullion, it was too late to stop in Creede to play tourist, so that will have to be another trip.
