4th of July Trip Weminuche Hiking

[bozeman]

Any advice on hiking from the east side? Looks like some roads out of Pagosa Springs heading NW get close, but still a good hike to get into the wilderness. Trying to have less crowds and more scenery. Just hiking/camping, no fishing.

 

[TBHasler]

You can drive up to the edge of the wilderness nw out of pagosa- gets you to a state park area that you can pass thru and park by a couple different trailhead options.
From those trails, if I remember right, it’s a mile or 2 to the first weminuche wilderness sign.
It’s Poison Park Trailhead and Weminuche Trail 592 dumps directly into it. There are a number of streams and smaller lakes along that trail and it’s a pretty easy hike. The further in/north you move the more elevation you gain. Never fished the area but have hunted it and always thought it would be a great area to hike into for camping/fishing trip.
Keep in mind this is going directly north out of pagosa which places you on south by southeastern side of wilderness as a starting point. Poison Park TH is about 1 hr out of Pagosa

You could also take 160 NE out of pagosa and there is close trailhead access around Wolf creek pass. This area puts you more on the eastern side of the wilderness.

Hope that helps a bit. Good luck and enjoy the trip.

 

[Poser]

Weminuche is my backyard, but I don’t hang out much on the far east side. If you have any ideas or questions, feel free to hit me up via PM and I can advise you a bit about where the crowds are and where they ain’t. -couple of locations, despite the remoteness, are surprisingly popular and crowded.

 

[bozeman]

Thanks, TB. I was looking at Poison Park TH. I'll look at the Wolf Creek pass area, haven't done that yet in detail.

 

[BBob]

I've accessed from Creede as well. You aren't fishing but I did a bunch of it out of there.

 

[Outdoor Writer]

I owned a resort at Vallecito Lake for 3 years. Having put on many miles on horseback in the Weminuche, I'm very familiar with the main trails from the Vallecito Lake area. Both are great hikes thru very scenic areas. If you plan to fish a bit, you can find plenty in the streams & lakes.

The Vallecito Trail trailhead is a few miles north of the lake area, and the Pine River Trailhead is farther to the east but accessed on the same major road.

There are also other trailheads on the Durango side of the range that will get you into the scenic Chicago Basin area. If I recall they are the Needle Creek, Animas & Purgatory trails. I packed forest service camps on the Needle Creek one but have never been on the other two.

If you want more specific info, ask away. In the meantime, here are few photos to get you psyched.

Vallecito River with the Weminuche in the background.


A view along the Pine River Trail



Granite Lake -- Pine River trail. It can also be accessed from the Pagosa side.



My buddy heading over the Continenral Divide on the way to Flint Lake from the Vallecito trail



My youngest son (he's now 56) & I at Doughnut Lake, Continental Divide via Pine River Trail. A couple of the mountains in the background are 14teeners!