Look, Don’t Leap!

The Weminuche Wilderness (pronounced Wem-in-ooch or Weh-mih-noo-chi) is Colorado’s largest wilderness area.

The southwestern side of this wilderness is comprised of terrain that rises gradually to the north from northeast of Durango. It culminates at a twelve-thousand foot ridge that runs east to west, the highest point being called “Overlook Point.” That tundra-covered summit also happens to be Colorado’s highest twelve-thousand foot summit which is why we found ourselves hiking to it in mid-July of 2017. 

Accessing this area from the Lime Creek Trailhead, we walked several miles through open forest, grassy meadows, past Dollar Lake and across alpine tundra where summer wildflowers were reaching their peak. Reaching Overlook Point at 12,998 feet, and then walking west along this high ridge offered quite a rewarding view. Stopping at a saddle (or col) along the way we found this stupendous view that looks down upon the Needle Creek drainage that flows from Chicago Basin. The highest summits to the right are the 14ers, Windom, Sunlight and Eolus. From the left, the view included Pigeon, Turret, Peak Fifteen and Peak Sixteen. The author (Tim) stood dangerously close to a five-hundred foot cliff while his wife (Carrie) took the shot, prompting us to name the photo, “Look, Don’t Leap!”