My latest trip with my brother Jim was a warm up for his Napal trip coming up soon. He felt he needed to build up some stamina before going, so he proposed a trip from Needleton to Elk creek, two stops on the Durango to Silverton rail line. I'm not sure of the total distance, but with losing and taking the wrong trail, I think we did about 50 miles, mere childs play for the six runners that passed us on Columbine pass, out for a 30 mile run for the day. Of course they weren't carrying near the weight we were. By the way, if you see this Bob 2, my brother is angry at you for dropping the remainder of your barrito on the trail that you were eating at the top of the pass. Sure an animal will probably eat it, but we saw it before they got to it, and it looks like trash to us and I got to carry it out.

The goats that live in Chicago basin are still there, they know where to find a good thing. the three fourteeners in Chicago basin get heavy use with all the climbers, salt licks abound.

Yah my brother was serious, I wore a U.S. Forrest Service volunteer shirt while I was in there, that's me, real official looking if I had the pants to match. Don't I look handsome in a uniform? Picture courtesy of Jim Sumrall taken near the top of columbine pass.

My duties as a volunteer, besides pick-up other peoples trash when I came across it, was to fix downed signs. Like the Continental divide trail sign we put back-up that had been knocked over and the rocks used to cover up a beer can. Oh boy, more weight. Picture courtesy of Jim Sumrall, taken on the Continental divide

Very fortunate to miss this storm that came in the day after we got out of the San Juans. Driving in it a lot better than hiking in it. This was on Wolf Creek pass, during my drive home.

Beam me back to Mike's home page, Scotty.

My brother leads treks to different places, if your interested, he has his own web site at jimsumrall.com.