[Day 58] Vazquez Peaks

A California-like light awoke my slumber around 8am. My tent was warm and nearly dry from the intensity of the sun. It was a pleasant rise for 12,000 feet, but I knew the day had some clouds scheduled.

🗓️ Date	June 22nd
⇢ Mileage	24.7
📍 Trip Mileage	1240.5
⛅️ Weather	Sunny, warm day with late day rain and thunderstorm
🏞️ Trail Conditions	Half trail, half snow; much ridge walking

I climbed my way atop a ridge line in Vazquez Peaks Wilderness. The trail skirted around a deep valley below where Henderson Mine, one of the largest molybdenum mines in the world, echoed through the land with a droning, ominous hum. I’d guess the sound was ventilation systems of the mine. Red mountain, under which much of the ming operation took place, looked like a crater. Except, these Rockies are sedimentary, not igneous rock formation. No, Red Mountain had literally collapsed on itself from the shear amount of material removed below its peak.

Collapsed Red Mountain.

Henderson Mine.

After my 1pm lunch, I decided to push up an exposed climb despite approaching clouds and thunder in the distance. It was a safe bet — there was a meager rain system followed by a circular parting of the clouds around my position. I rolled into Berthound Pass at Colorado Highway 40. Sitting in a warming hut at the trailhead, I watched the clouds and ate down my food load. Why not get in another ten miles?

Parting of the skies just for me.

View south to Berthound Pass.

On my way up Mt. Flora, the clouds consumed my position. It was windy, wet, cold hiking to the top of Mt. Flora. Thunder boomed nearby. Are the clouds of a thunderstorm the worst place to be? I am not sure, but I didn’t particularly sense more danger than being below the clouds, nor did my hair stand up or my ears tingle like I’d expect when a thunderstorm gets frisky. The howling wind often blocked the ominous hum of the Henderson Mine across the valley as I descended Mt. Flora. I was hoping to follow a section of the Pfiffner Traverse between Mt. Flora and James Peak, which follows the divide on an off trail ridge hitting five 13,000 foot peaks. But, the weather forced my hand low on the CDT, which drops 3,000 feet before climbing ascending to the top of James Peak above 13,000 feet.