Cinnamon Pass
We woke up to a chilly morning and met at the Mocha Moose Coffee House. Everyone was ready for a big day of wheeling in the San Juan Mountains. For some crazy reason, the "Alpine Loop" trails weren't on the Web site yet, and we were going to remedy that situation.
We drove by the lake and Dave pointed out where he was camping. What a view! It had been a long time since Dave had come from Minnesota to wheel with us, and it was good to see him again.
We weren't too far into the trail before we came to the Wager Gulch trail, which we ran up to the end and back down. We continued along the Cinnamon Pass trail and had lunch at the Sherman overlook.
The weather had been pretty good, but we packed up our lunch quickly and a bit early as the rain started to approach our lunch spot. It was definitely chilly, and everyone managed to get all packed up and windows put back in just as the rain hit us.
It only rained for a little bit, thankfully. We were also thankful to see a few other people on the trail but not nearly the traffic we'd probably see on a weekend. That made for a more relaxing trip.
The closer we got to the pass the bumpier the trail became. We talked in amazement about how some shiny SUVs made it through some of the spots. They were rough and could give some people some troubles, but many SUVs can do a lot more than you would initially expect. The switchbacks must be crazy for some people, though.
We were soon up to the pass and headed down to Animas Forks. Everyone in the group had seen and walked through the little ghost town at some point in the past, so we decided to skip its tour. Even on a Tuesday there were lots of people wandering around the area.
When we came to the end we headed up Engineer Pass to complete the Alpine Loop. It was a great start to a great vacation!
Report from a Different Day
