Week 10: Donovan Rice tests limits in Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Great Sand Dunes hiking Great Colorado Route

“This section I soaked my shirt in sweat, battled wind that kept knocking me down, and ate plenty of sand, but had an absolute blast”

Donovan Rice has now been hiking the Great Colorado Route for 70 days, and has walked approximately 926 miles.

His accounts during week 10’s hike included suffering through a hot 45-mile hike across the San Luis Valley, climbing UP and DOWN peaks and valleys in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, getting sand in his shoes at Great Sand Dunes National Park and finding Bighorn Sheep.

But Rice said he was still loving the hike, even though his second pair of hiking shoes appear nearing their life cycle’s end, and was regularly monitoring weather apps as Colorado’s monsoons ramped up.

Rice also summited three more fourteeners, bringing his Great Colorado Route thru-hike total to 10.

San Luis Valley to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

With his ‘zero’ day in Alamosa complete, on Day 64 Rice left Alamosa in the morning and headed east toward the Blanca Group on County Road 6S.

His second day of valley hiking were easy miles, which positioned him below the southern 14ers of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

But first, he needed to make sure he had enough supplies for the seven day hike.

“This is probably the heaviest my pack will be for the entire trek,” Rice said in his Day 64 social media post. “I got a lot of food and a lot of water, and it’s yeah, rough.”

Cloud coverage in the afternoon helped Rice stay cool, helping with his water intake during the dry summer heat.

“My first water source isn’t until about halfway up that mountain, but it’s getting stormy up there,” Rice said, looking toward Mount Blanca.

He finished his day hiking up Mount Blanca Road, aka Lake Como Road, a notoriously hard 4WD road that accesses Lake Como and the Blanca Group of 14ers.

Rice finished his day camping at Lake Como, the starting spot below his next day’s goal of Ellingwood Point.

Finding smiles in “My Undisputed Favorite Range”

Day 65 started out calm for Rice. He left the Lake Como shores for his ascension of 14,057-foot Ellingwood Point via the Blanca Peak Trail.

“The Sangres aren’t the widest or most expansive, but you get an insane amount of vert and dramatic cliffs cram packed into a small area,” Rice said.

Even though Little Bear Peak and Blanca Peak are possible side quests off the main Great Colorado Route route, Rice decided to skip both summits and the traverse due to weather forecasts.

“I’m not super comfortable doing that (traverse) for the first time with a multi-day kit while on this huge thru-hike,” Rice said in his Day 65 social media post. “Maybe another time.”

Rice felt comfort from seeing the local residents in the basin, however.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife estimate between 375-425 bighorn sheep roam the mountain range, making the herd one of the largest populations in the state.

For Rice’s Ellingwood Point ascension, he chose to follow the south ridge, a class 3 route, to the summit.

“The views from the top were excellent,” Rice said. “I got this great view of the basin on the other side.”

After a short time atop Ellingwood Point, Rice made his way north across the ridge toward South Zapata Creek, descending the C2 Gully off the 14er’s north slopes. Rice said he ‘scree skied’ some of the gully, but didn’t need his ice axe because all the snow had melted.

Rice had been carrying an ice axe since picking it up in Ridgway, but said he’s most likely to ditch the snow gear in Westcliffe once he arrives to that town.

“Afternoon storms meant I could either set up camp at 1 p.m., near California Gulch or I could pay Zapata Falls a visit,” Rice said. “I love that canyon, and it’s even better in the winter.”

After visiting the falls, Rice made his way back uphill, camping near a shelter along the trail.

Rice made an alteration to his plan for Day 66 in order to do one of his favorite kinds of hiking: Ridgeline traverses.

UP…TRAVERSE…DOWN…Sand Dunes

On Day 66, Rice regained the ridge via California Gulch and “rode” the ridge past Carbonate Mountain all the way to Mosca Pass.

“I was threading the needle with some storms both behind me near Ellingwood and ahead near the Crestones,” Rice said, noting the weather forecast was still on his mind. “Luckily there were ample opportunities to bail downhill below treeline if need be, but wound up not needing to do so.”

Rice hiked approximately four miles along the ridge, descending from a starting elevation 13,700 feet to an ending elevation at the pass around 9,700 feet.

FUN FACT: Mosca Pass was used for thousands of years by Indigenous peoples as a passageway into the San Luis Valley.

The origin of the name ‘Mosca’ is uncertain, but in Spanish means ‘fly’, possibly named for the numerous mosquitoes in the area during early summer, according to the National Park Service.

During the 1870s and 1890s, Mosca Pass, along with Medano Pass, were developed into active wagon and toll roads, with Mosca Pass seeing up to 40 wagons a day.

According to an article by Carolyn Newman in the World Journal, a toll road on Mosca Pass was tried at least six times, including in 1873, 1874 and lastly in 1892. The charge was $2 per wagon, $1 for horse and rider, and 50 cents for each animal herded over.

Rice wasn’t done yet, however. He completed his descension into Great Sand Dunes National Park, camping on top of their sandy grains.

He was also rewarded with a beautiful sunset to close out the day.

Recharge, refuel, rejoin the mountains

On Day 67, Rice chose to hang out at the national park most of the day before entering the Dunes around 5 p.m.

A high temperature of 88°F was recorded by the National Weather Service in nearby Crestone, Colorado that day.

According to the National Park Service, temperatures of the sand can reach 150°F, making long hikes unbearable and dangerous.

However, once temperatures cooled, Rice pushed onto the sand, hiking a few hours before camping in the dunes for a second night.

“I found it (hiking) to be far less stressful or intense than what I was thinking,” Rice said of walking on the loose sand. “Though I’m sure the wind helped keep me cool. I carried seven liters of water, but could have gotten by with five.”

For Day 68, Rice left the sand dunes to the north via Sand Creek Trail, rejoining the main GCR route, heading toward Upper Sand Creek Lake.

“It was pretty smokey so I didn’t get the best views, but I have no complaints about having to return to a place like this,” Rice said.

Rice said he has not been speed running the Sangres, nor the GCR in general.

“I’m taking my time along this route,” he said. “I suspect the Creme de la Creme (hikers) could knock it out in under two months (the whole GCR), but most folks would be closer to my timeline (currently four and half months).”

Rice closed out his day camping at Upper Sand Creek Lake, saving his energy for the march up Cottonwood Creek Trail north of Milwaukee Peak.

Don’t get blown away

Day 69 started out similar to the prior few.

Calm skies with little wind.

But Rice would later find out weather can change in a heartbeat in Colorado’s high country.

“Today I’m going up Cottonwood Pass, then, what I’m assuming is called Crestolita Pass, then (up) Broken Hand Pass to South Colony Lakes,” Rice said. “I’m sad that Cottonwood Pass Trail is no longer being maintained by the forest service. It’s a gobsmackingly stunning area, and severely underhiked.”

Pressing forward, Rice then contended with incoming weather high among the tallest peaks in the range.

“I literally got knocked down by the wind a couple of times today,” Rice said. “Not just knock your hat off, knock-your-sunglasses-and-pull-your-unclenched-wind-pants-down kind of wind.”

Rice also said he wasn’t feeling a try of the Crestone Traverse because “the wind was absolutely killer today, and doing the traverse, with the wind, just felt like a body retrieval mission waiting to happen.”

Rice eventually made the descent from Broken Hand Pass into South Colony Lakes to bed for the night.

On Day 70, Rice took on one last big challenge.

He sent himself up and over two 14ers, plus a handful of other high-elevation peaks, before descending into the town of Crestone.

“Today was a brutal day,” Rice said. “I made it over Obstruction Peak, Columbia Point, Kit Carson Peak, Kitty Kat Carson and Challenger Point. I think my Sisyphean version of hell would be walking down Challenger Point again and again, only to be teleported back to the top whenever I near the bottom.”

Rice gained 2,910-feet-in-elevation and lost 6,670-feet-of-elevation during the day’s up and down march-a-thon.

What’s ahead for Rice

Rice will start week 11 hiking back into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains after a resupply in Crestone.

“I still got some Sangre’s insanity north of Crestone 😅 left,” Rice said as he thought about the second half sections of the range. “I need to investigate bailout options now that afternoon lightning is kinda 50/50 every day.”

Once that stretch is completed, Rice will hike into Westcliffe after spending a week plus “at home” in his favorite Colorado mountain range.

In his own words

Most satisfying moment from week 10

• “My most satisfying moment this week was (being on) Ellingwood Point’s north ridge,” Rice said. “You get some astounding views from up there, and I encountered so many big horn sheep!”

Most challenging moment from week 10

• “The most challenging moment this week was navigating the weather windows,” Rice said. “I got very lucky threading the needle on Carbonate Mountain between storms in both directions.”

What he’s learned from week 10

• “My biggest lesson this week was I need to come back and explore the 13ers of the Sangres,” Rice said. “So much beauty from below. I can only imagine what it’s like from the top.”