On the Road with Maya: Above the Timberline!

Wildflowers above timberline

While we had been close to timberline a few times in both northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, we hadn’t yet had a hike that was clearly above timberline. However, our stay in the San Juan National Forest near Telluride provided us with several opportunities to do just that.

Pink Paintbrush

We opted to stay at Cayton, a forest campground just off Colorado Highway 145 at an elevation of 9,400 feet. Nearby were three separate trailheads leading into the Lizard Head Wilderness as well as several other trails in two National Forests within easy driving distance of the campground. With the higher elevation to keep us cooler and so many trails to choose from, we didn’t think we could go wrong.

The beginning of the trail to Lizard Head Peak

Getting closer (and breathing harder), but still below timberline.

David and I don't think the peak looks at all like a lizard's head.

The Lizard Head Wilderness is named after Lizard Head Peak at 13,113 feet in elevation and is located in both the San Juan and Uncompahgre National Forests. Three peaks in the wilderness are among Colorado’s many 14,000 footers and many ‘peak baggers’ try to climb all the 14,000 feet and higher mountains in the Rockies. Since most of the trails to the 14,000 footers were well over 10 miles round trip and climbed anywhere from 3,500 to 5,000 feet, David and I did not count ourselves among the peak baggers. We could have blamed it on Maya, but really we didn’t feel like killing ourselves this trip. We wanted to enjoy our time and not stress Maya’s feet so we contented ourselves with achieving timberline.

Peaks to the west of Lizard Head Peak

Our first hike into the Lizard Head was the Cross Mountain Trail to the base of Lizard Head Peak. The trail started at 10,034 ft. and ended at 11,975 ft., an elevation gain of almost 2,000 ft. in about 3.5 miles. Since we had been at lower elevations between 7,000 and 9,000 feet for the previous two weeks we FELT the altitude on this hike.

Above timberline at last and near the base of Lizard Head Peak

I just thought I was in pretty good shape. The trail wasn’t that bad, it climbed steadily most of the way and steeply in a few places, but as we neared 11,000 and then almost 12,000 feet we were all huffing and puffing. After a few miles it was like my energy was gone. David and I agreed we would have to train and stay at high altitudes for several months before we would consider attempting any of the 14,000 footers. (Oh, the disadvantages of being a lowlander and over 60. But then again, the advantages and blessings of being free to travel!)

Melting snow made some of the alpine meadows very muddy

Some of the snow had a pinkish cast caused by an algal bloom similar

to 'red tide.' Maya ate a little before we stopped her and got sick.

But she recovered quickly and had lunch.

We were exhausted by the time we neared the base of Lizard Head but then the trail became less steep at timberline and we really enjoyed the last mile. Seeing the beautiful alpine country and all the wildflowers was our reward. It was worth the effort! To top it off, we saw a small heard of elk near timberline and then one lone bull in a meadow on our way down. We were able to observe the bull within about 100 yards for a few minutes before he noticed us and disappeared into the trees.

A herd of sheep near the trailhead

Maya makes a new buddy and offers to help

As we were returning to the trailhead, I kept hearing a lot of noise that eventually we recognized as sheep. Soon we saw the herd and Maya immediately made friends with the sheep dog. We had to leash her as she was pretty sure she could help out even though as far as we know, Maya has never been around sheep. We were pretty sure that the shepherd would not appreciate her help.

Columbines on the Kilpacker Trail

Over the meadow and to the woods, David points the way.

Near the trailhead, Kilpacker Trail

The next day we took a break from high altitude and went down about 2,000 feet to the Calico National Recreation Trail in the San Juan N.F. As we started out on the trail, a red fox trotted into view and we watched him hunt until he vanished into the tall grass. Though we stayed below 10,000 feet on this trail, it was still very steep in places and gave us a workout. Coming down from the top over the cutoff made us thankful for our hiking poles, otherwise we would have been sliding on our rears in a few places. With four legs, Maya doesn’t need poles and even at her age she climbs and descends with much more grace than we ever manage.

Waterfall on Kilpacker Trail

We took two more long hikes into the Lizard Head Wilderness, on the Kilpacker Trail and then the Navajo Lake Trail. Both of these trails meandered through high mountain meadows in and out of stands of aspens, spruce and fir with streams and waterfalls along the way. The wildflowers were in their full glory and the columbine in particular was profuse and stunning in these high mountain meadows. I don’t know if the columbine puts on this same glorious show every year, but I can see why Colorado named it the state flower.

Insect damage to Aspen leaves

Columbines and skunk cabbage dominated the meadow

Our campsite for the week was right on the Dolores River and we had to walk all of 15 feet from our RV to cool our feet in the river after hiking. Maya had a little swim most every day to wash off the trail dust. The only negative thing was that flies were beginning to hatch out that week and they did bite. But they were so slow that it was easy to swat them before they bit and compared to the swarms of flies last summer in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota it almost isn’t worth mentioning them. Yes, the upper Midwest still wins the prize for flies.