This trip was in July 2023, when we took a weeklong multi-family RV trip down to Vallecito Reservoir in the San Juans. This post is long overdue, but better late than never.
This post details the 1.5 day side trip that I took my son, niece, and nephew on over Engineer Pass (out and back), California and Hurricane Passes, and down into Silverton. We then met up with Meg and Nikki in Silverton for dinner, dropped off Bennett, and headed up Cinnamon Pass to climb Handies Peak the next morning. My niece and nephew had never climbed a 14er previously so this was a bucket list trek for them.
This first gallery is of Animas Forks, north of Silverton, climbing up Engineer Pass and stopping at Odom Point. The weather was absolutely stunning. All of these photos are straight from my iPhone 14 regular (2 lens vs 3).
We then descended Engineer Pass back towards Animas Forks and started ascending California & Hurricane Passes on the way back to Silverton.
California Pass is a fantastic climb. The views are stunning. I have a YouTube video of it from back in 2021. It’s steep with a few switchbacks but pretty mellow. It’s a nice long route back to Silverton from Animas Forks (and probably smoother and way less dusty than going through Eureka).
After having dinner in Silverton and dropping Bennett off with Meg and Nikki, we headed back up towards Animas Forks and saw a very large black bear just outside of Silverton. It probably wasn’t the thing my niece and nephew wanted to see before camping, lol.
We navigated Cinnamon Pass in the dark, and while it probably seemed sketchy to my passengers, I’ve navigated that pass so many times since 2011 that I’ve lost count. I will say my amber fog lights and ditch lights made a huge difference. We only had one sketchy switchback where we were on two wheels, but we made it nonetheless.
We camped at American Basin and woke up early to hit Handies Peak. This was their first 14er climb, and while this is probably one Colorado, of the easiest, it was difficult for them. We kept the pace slow and steady, and they could acclimate to the lower oxygen and made it to the summit in a reasonable amount of time. I was super proud of them and hoped they caught the mountaineering bug.
Well, that’s all for this post, folks. We headed back down to Durango and back to Vallecito Reservoir to enjoy the rest of the family RV trip on the last.
Thanks for joining me on this adventure. I hope you’ll come along for the ride again in the future!