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The Weimanuche Widerness area. I love this valley and we needed to go in order to get Mr. Casey's last 14er, Mt. Eolus. We're an odd group of hikers. Terry is oldest, I'm not far behind and we have added Laurabelle to the group and she is putting us to shame. Even though this was Terry and I's 3rd trip into the Needle Mountains, it was Laura's first. Her enthusiasm for the train adventure reminded me of how awed I was the first time and I never tire of the Chicago basin. The train is such an adventure but we have streamlined the trip by picking up the train in Silverton rather than Durango.
We got off at the standard Needleton stop and saw our friendly bridge. Terry and Laura don't like to backpack much but the 5-6 miles up Chicago basin is breathtaking and the views are amazing. By catching the train our Silverton you don't have much time to gawk, you have to keep moving to get to camp, set up the tent, have dinner and go to bed.
We found a nice little campsite near the stream about halfway up the final stretch.
We hit the trail early the next morning with the primary objective of getting Terry his 54th. Laurabelle was hoping to bag all three since she wasn't sure when she would get back. Since I have already completed the grand slam I was just hoping to have a great day. The views of the rock formations on Eolus are really cool and remind me a little of the Tarryall mountains. I got a little stomache sick on Eolus so sent the two others ahead.
Here's Terry summiting the last one with Laurabelle next to him! Congratulations!
I caught up with Terry and Laurabelle on the "catwalk", they were coming down and I was going up. I told terry I would meet him on North Eolus after summiting the south peak and Laurabelle took off for the triple play.
After Terry and I summited North Eolus we hiked back down to the twin lakes and just enjoyed a beautiful day. Once we saw the weather moving in we headed back to camp. We caught a little rain on the way down but not much. Funny, Laurabelle caught us before camp, after completing her triple play. Wow! We had packed some beers for the celebration and I brought some cigars. What a great way to finish the day!
In the morning we packed up and headed down to the train. It was a little nostalgic thinking that this might be our last trip in Chicago Basin for a while. We had also set a few beers in the big stream and boy did they taste good! The trip back was quiet with reflection but we were all wearing some big smiles the whole way home.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Even though you have them all done, I hope you will still join me on the rest of mine. That was a great trip.
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