August 24, 2019. Our goal for the day was to summit Challenger Point and Kit Carson Peak.

It’s morning, and the day’s first rays are starting to brighten the sky over the cold valley we had camped in north of Crestone. In a matter of mere minutes we went from wrapped in sleeping bags to packing the last of our gear in the car. We rolled back into Crestone and turned onto the dirt road up to the Willow Creek Trailhead. The road had some of the worst washboard we had ever seen, but cut a clear path to the trailhead parking area (which, as we had suspected, was full).

The trail itself started out straightforward and was surprisingly well-maintained. For the first couple of miles the going was quiet as we went up switchbacks. So quiet, in fact, that we were able to hear what turned out to be a young black bear rustling through the undergrowth on the slope below us. Less than 10 seconds later the bear had disappeared back into the woods, and we were on our way.

After making it up the switchbacks, we were treated to the first sweeping vista this hike had to offer: Willow Creek Park. In the western US, “park” refers to a flat, open area in the mountains. Willow Creek Park didn’t disappoint.

The valley swept up to the east, funneling us towards the still-rising sun. As we ascended towards Willow Lake, campsites started to appear on either side. All of them were occupied, and we made at least one wrong turn onto a social trail leading to one of these sites. Still, none of these sites were far enough from the main trail to make getting lost an issue.

Past a few waterfalls and water crossings, the trail finally brought us up beside Willow Lake. Kit Carson Peak towered overhead, though Challenger Point remained hidden as we worked our way around the lake. Pausing on some rock slabs above the water, we surveyed the rest of the route.

From our vantage, we could see there was a little bit of trail left before we would be on the rocks. This, according to Skyler’s memory of his previous time hiking Challenger in 2015, was a new bit of trail work, and one that we were grateful for as we started to work our way up to the ridge.

After maybe a mile the trail became intermittent, and shortly afterwards disappeared entirely. Cairns (also intermittent) became the only indicator of where to go next on the ground that was quickly becoming little more than loose gravel. Many of the cairns were difficult to spot, while others almost seemed purpose-built to put hikers in bad spots on either their ascent or descent.

Our next checkpoint, the “notch” in the ridge, was just ahead, and stayed just ahead for the next hour as we crawled up the slope. When we finally did reach the notch, we were greeted by a heavy gust of wind. We stopped briefly to let it abate, but as we were so close to Challenger’s summit, we didn’t want to stop for long. From the notch it was easy to gain the ridge, and then it was a simple matter of following that to Challenger. We took in the views of the surrounding Sangres, and paid our respects at the small memorial to the Challenger astronauts at the mountaintop.

With my energy largely spent and the altitude starting to get to me, I huddled behind the shelter at the Challenger summit for a nap while Skyler carried on to tag Kit Carson Peak. Suffice it to say, he wasn’t quite able to make it. Had we started our trek earlier in the day, things may have been different, but the sun was dipping towards the horizon again by the time Skyler had rounded the side of KC. He made the call to return to Challenger under the assumption that climbing back down these mountains in the dark probably wouldn’t be much fun, an assessment I was grateful for.

Going back down the rocky slope below the notch turned out to be a far more difficult challenge than climbing up had been. There was a great deal of crab walking, and we frequently found ourselves taking turns going around difficult areas so as to avoid kicking rocks down on to one another.

By the time we had reached the actual trail again, we were easily the last people on the mountain. We had an hour, maybe two, of daylight left. So, with only brief pauses for water, we began booking it down the trail as fast as we safely could. Even though black bears and other wildlife typically won’t bother hikers in this area, we still weren’t thrilled by the idea of being stuck on the trail after nightfall.

Darkness caught us in the last mile of hiking, and we reached the parking area under starlight. It had been a big day, and by Skyler’s GPS we had done about 16 miles of hiking (more for him, with his attempt at Kit Carson included) and around 5,500 ft of elevation gain. Had we started before first light, we probably could have made both summits. Better still would have been backpacking up to camp at Willow Lake and making a summit attempt from there.

Still, we were able to get a good hike in for the day, and that’s never a bad thing.

See you next time.

~Sky & Ty

(Words courtesy of Tyler, pictures courtesy of Skyler Stanley).