Lime Creek Trip

Colorado Trail Engineer Mountain

Date

July 23-26, 2024

COST

$1900/person

difficulty

Easy - Moderate

elevation gain & Loss

850ft (req.)
800ft (optional)

Total mileage

12 (req.)
8 (optional)

POINTS OF INTEREST

Colorado Trail, Lime Creek, Ancient Trail

DETAILS

ABOUT YOUR TRIP

This is a joint effort between Redwood Llamas and the Telluride Academy for 11-13 year olds and is an adventure they won’t forget.

Meet some curious creatures and learn about their habits and personalities during this four day backing and camping adventure. The llamas will do the heavy lifting, carrying our food, tents, and kitchen gear. We’ll load up our backpacks with our clothes and a sleeping bag for this trip into the specular San Juan Mountains. We’ll return at the end of the week with new friends, new stories, and a new appreciation for a truly unique animal.

The first day is a 6 mile hike along the famous Colorado Trail to our beautiful camp at the headwaters of Lime Creek (elevation gain 850 feet). The second day is a day hike along an ancient trail to a ridge above our camp with magnificent views (elevation gain and loss 700 feet). The third day is Llama Olympics with events and games everyone will enjoy. The last day is the 6 mile hike back out to the starting point (elevation loss 850 feet).

Detailed: CO Trail Segment 25

To book this trip visit www.tellurideacademy.org

Location

Colorado Trail Engineer Mountain

Near the town of Silverton, the trek includes 13 miles of the Colorado Trail. This fossil rich area has geological formations of beds of gray shale, sandstone, and limestone layers then into a formation of light-colored granite at Cascade Creek Basin near the formidable Grizzly Peak. With its gradual ascent, this area is known for its lush, knee-high fields of wildflowers including Colorado columbine, bluebells, Indian paintbrush, and larkspur along with many others and much of the hiking along this segment is above tree line. The portion of the trail that passes by Engineer Mountain is a gently rolling trail with wonderful views of this majestic mountain.

Video

Trip Highlight Video

LOGISTICS

WHAT TO EXPECT

Our trips originate in the high mountain town of Silverton, Colorado (elevation 9,316 feet) which is a historic mining town boasting gorgeous Victorian architecture. It’s renowned for its mountainous beauty and vivid alpine landscape, truly a postcard setting. Located in the heart of the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado it’s self-contained with a wide variety lodging options. Whether budget conscious, or looking for something higher end, there are accommodations suited for all tastes. The dining scene is also nicely varied with many choices (www.silvertoncolorado.com).

It is highly recommended that clients come at least a few days ahead of time to acclimate to the altitude. The nearby local airports are either Durango La Plata CO (DRO) or Montrose Telluride, CO (MTJ), and the closest major airports are Albuquerque International, NM (ABQ) or Denver International, CO. (DEN). There are many activities the surrounding areas provide, including but not limited to: exceptional hiking, jeep or ATV rentals to explore the remote high country, Mesa Verde National Park, Narrow Gauge Railroad from Durango to Silverton train ride, mountain bike rentals and alpine slide at Purgatory, and outings to the nearby towns of Ouray (home of the famous natural hot springs!), the plush resort town of Telluride, and the historic town of Durango.

Our headquarters are located in Silverton at 1708 Greene St. There is an orientation meeting the night before the trip at 6 PM where the clients meet their guides, go over the details of the trip; they also receive their panniers (llama bags) which they take back to their hotel to pack up their gear that evening. The next morning at 8:30 the trip departs from the HQ (parking for clients cars available) to the trailhead. The trips return at 2-3 PM on the last day.