WILSON PEAK 8/23/88

WILSON PEAK 14,017'

Mountain........Wilson Peak
Elevation.........14,017
Rank...............48th
Range..............San Juan
Trail length......6 miles
Elevation gain..4,700'
Difficulty..........***
Comments........Third time's a charm


TRIP REPORT

8/23/88

After backpacking for a week in the Needles area of the San Juan Mountains with my friends Kit & Mike, I dumped them at the Durango Airport and got a rental car. I drove back into town and ate at McDonald's, did laundry, wrote postcards, did some reading, reorganized all my gear and packed. The next morning I got up at 4:30 and drove to the Navajo Basin trailhead for a shot at the Wilsons and El Diente.

I started hiking at 7:15 and reached Navajo Lake (about 4 miles) at 9:30. I set up camp there, and because the weather was good, packed a day pack and headed for Wilson Peak. This was my third attempt (the first two were cut short by weather and altitude sickness). I made it as far as the saddle where I had stopped on my first try with no problems. I traversed loose rock to the summit ridge and reached the gap where my second attempt had ended, still with no problems, and with encouraging good weather. I met some people at the gap who were coming off the summit - they pointed out the route and I continued.

Finally around 1:00 I reached the summit as some light clouds moved in and started sprinkling rain & sleet. I had managed to survive thus far today on a Chunky bar and lots of water but was getting pretty tired, so I headed back toward camp. At the saddle on the return I ran into a guy named Mike from Chevy Chase, Maryland (practically a neighbor) who pointed out the route up Mt. Wilson and recommended staying at a low camp by Navajo Lake (where I was). He had camped higher and spent a miserably cold night.

I returned to my camp and took a nap, then had macaroni for dinner and read a book by the stream inlet to the lake (a beautiful spot!) until sunset. Then I went to bed and slept peacefully until my alarm went off at 6:30.