Pigeon and Turret Peaks, San Juan Mountains, Day 2

Zoomed in Picture of Ruby Creek Basin Basecamp
Our Base Camp at Ruby Creek Basin Meadow

On Friday morning, we broke camp and hiked to the huge football field sized meadow at the base of Pigeon and Turret Peaks. The rain from the previous day had soaked everything. It was time for the morning shake and shove…First ya gotta shake it out, then you gotta shove it in the pack. We all made breakfast and talked excitedly about the day ahead of us.

I decided once we were settled in the meadow, we should scope out the first hour of our hike for the following morning. We’d be leaving at Oh-Dark-Thirty, so it would be super if we knew the first bit of the hike. So, soon after we were set up, a scouting trip ensued. I’m really happy we did the scouting because the way I had pictured going did not at all work out. Luckily, we figured out the proper way!

From the meadow campsite (on the far east side of the meadow), head back down Ruby Basin (on the left side, heading Northwest). Head towards the large cliff band and walk right past it near the base. There is a trail heading steeply up slope on the far west side of this crag. This trail will lead you to the saddle between Pigeon and Turret if you follow it all the way.

We actually chose not to walk on this particular trail because it was very steep and we thought in the middle of the night it would be difficult to ascend. Walking about 300 feet past this trail on flat ground and still in the meadow, there is a more gentle slope in front of you. It is covered with knee to waist high willow trees and the occasional boulder, but luckily neither are big enough to present any major problem. It’s easy enough to zigzag upwards in between hazards.

We got about an hour above the meadow (See the picture up top, of the view of our little tents!) and then decided to head back down as we were getting hungry and a storm system was brewing for our daily deluge.

When we got back to camp, the afternoon storm hit and we all retreated into our tents. It was a brief storm and over in about 30 minutes. Thankfully we were able to make dinner without having to huddle under an improvised mess tent like the night before.

Joe, Kent & Doris came tramping back to camp around 5pm (if memory serves) all smiles. They summited Pigeon and Turret and had a fabulous day. We got to hear about their adventure and I asked for a bit of beta from Joe.

We had a very lovely evening in the meadow, socializing and talking about future ambitions. Then, the mountain goats arrived and terrorized anybody who had to urinate. Apparently, the goats knew it was Friday, so they came down for their weekend dose of salt. The herd was probably around 70 goats, so we fell asleep to the sound of bleating kids. Lovely.

Tags: , , , , ,

Comments are closed.