Chicago Basin 14ers, Sunlight Peak, Windom Peak, Mt Eolus, N Eolus, Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado

This has been my most anticipated trip of this summer, a 4-day/3-night backpacking trip to the Chicago Basin of Weminuche Wilderness in the heart of San Juan Mountains. We drove 7 hrs to Durango from Denver and stayed at an AirB&B near the train station on August 1st. The next morning we boarded the Durango to Silverton narrow gauge train and thoroughly enjoyed the 2 1/2hr ride through some gorgeous scenery. After getting off at Needleton stop, we hiked 6 miles/3000ft vert to the Basin with a heavy pack which might be the crux of the trip. Rest of the day was spent setting up camp and relaxing. The next morning we set out to climb our first two 14ers, Sunlight and Windom Peak, at 3:30am due to forecasted rain in the afternoon. Sunlight has some brief class4 sections, but the main challenge is the summit block, which requires some very exposed climbing over large rocks and then a “leap of faith” when coming down. After Sunlight we then traversed over to nearby Windom Peak, which only requires Class 2+ scramble with some navigational challenges. After enjoying the summit views on Windom a bit we headed back to camp and prepared for dinner. A huge thunderstorm moved through the basin that night, making for a more or less sleepless night for me. The next morning we set out again around 3:30am to climb Eolus and N Eolus. We climbed Eolus first to get the more difficult peak out of the way. The famed Catwalk on the way to Eolus was quite fun to traverse. It’s exposed but not too narrow or difficult. We then climbed a series of class 3 ledges to reach the summit of Mt Eolus, which offers one of the best views of all the peaks IMO. After Eolus we made quick work of N Eolus which only involves 2-300ft class 2+ scramble on solid rocks to summit. On the way back we dipped into Twin Lakes for a quick swim and also saw a big herd of goats near the lakes. On the last day we relaxed near the camp in the morning and made our way back down to train station in 2 hrs, got on the train, eventually drove back to Denver past midnight. Overall a great trip and I was super impressed with this area. Plan to be back in the future to climb some 13ers in this area which look super impressive. Total stats from Needleton stop: 27 miles with 10,000ft elevation gain.

Music:
Western Spaghetti, by Chris Haugen
Cinematic ambient beat steps, by Alex Productions
Away, by Patrick Patrikios
Crazy, by Patrick Patrikios
Love Aside, by Patrick Patrikios
Hello 6am, by Mylar Melodies
Half-Life 2 Triage at Dawn, remix by Path of Borealis
Lost Sanctuaries, by HAGHORROR
Cinematic Piano Ambient, by AShamaluevMusic

00:00 Journey to the Basin
05:45 Sunlight and Windom
14:03 Eolus and N Eolus
27:33 Journey back

#sanjuanmountains
#14ers