Spring Mountain via the East Couloirs

Trip Report -September 7, 1997

By Marty Vyn Boennighausen

This is a long, strenuous hike. A little backcountry experience is recommended since some of it is "off trail". I also recommend taking a lunch and plenty of liquids!

Go to the Alvarado campground and drive past the Alpine lodge. Continue up the road past the dumpster and past the campsites. At the top of this road is a turn around. Hikers can park here for the day without paying the picnic fee normally charged if you park in a campsite.

Arthur, Shogun, our 1 year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and I started out at 8:30am. We walked down the road to the trailhead that says, "Comanche Lake and Rainbow Trail". After only ten minutes on this trail, we saw three Blue Grouse. They have such a distinctive "whoosh" as they fly up into the air. It is always a little startling. At the junction, we continued on the Comanche Lake Trail. We passed a register and a map of the area.

At 10am we were at the base of the East couloir or as some call it, the Y couloir on Spring Mountain. (Note: there are some views of the Y couloir before you actually reach the base. Be sure to stay on the trail until you reach the true base.) Once you are at the base and looking up at the Y couloir, you need to go back about 50 feet to a rock filled gully. (There was no water running in it when we were there.) It is marked with a small cairn. This is where we left the maintained trail that continues to Comanche Lake.) We headed up into the woods, staying just to the right or north of the rock gully. Soon we were on an open grassy swath. We saw some rock outcroppings where the "Y" splits and decided to head for there for lunch as our next goal. This is now a very steep section. You can climb in the gully, using the rocks as a crude set of stairs or you can stay on the grassy slope. (Arthur called this the "Sangre de Cristo Stairmaster"!)

At 11:15am we stopped for lunch. Arthur had a baloney sandwich (like they always say, "You are what you eat"), I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich, and Shogun had some of each and some pretzels.

After a nice rest, we headed up the right or north part of the Y couloir. (This side of the couloir looked less steep than the left side.) There was a large, twisted pine tree that seemed like a good next goal. The view of the valley floor is of course exceptional. We had fun picking out all of the landmarks including the residential homes of Sierra Mojada, the local ranches, Westcliffe, Lake DeWeese, and of course, the Wet Mountain Range.

Continuing on, we headed up and to the right, aimed at what looked like a pile of rocks and the top of the pine trees. Wow! Here on the ridge at 12:30pm, we could finally see the first view of one of the back ranges. The mountains look like giant waves. Far below, we could see another path for another day. We now headed left and up, following the ridge. At every false summit, we said, "That next one must be the top." "False summits speed you on!" We passed a little man-made rock cave. Had someone stopped here in the past to brave the winds or a storm? This was still not the top! On we went, determined to make our goal. At 1:25pm, we had conquered Spring Mountain. The top has a rock cairn which we gladly added a rock to.

From the summit is a great view of Horn Peak and the Crestones to the south. To the west, we can now see that the trail we saw earlier goes to 2 lakes and then on up and over the mountain. Looks like a fine place to explore in the future. We took our time, resting and enjoying the views. There were only a very few patches of snow remaining in the distant mountains.

Soon it was time to start our decent. We returned down the same ridge and then into the very steep couloir. We found it necessary to either side step or walk in switch back fashion. We were telling each other stories and going down, down, down, trying to keep up a good pace to make good time. We were about half way down the couloir when we discovered that we weren't in the couloir at all! Somehow we had gone a little too far down the ridge and ended up in a very steep gully. We were lucky in that we cut over and immediately found a rudimentary animal path through the woods that took us back to our original couloir. There are always some exciting and fearful moments when you think, "What if we are lost in the woods?!" By the time we had cut over, we were only five minutes above the trail. It felt really good to be on an easy walking trail again. We were back at the trailhead and heading home at 4:30pm. We were hot and tired and our feet hurt, but what a glorious day! Dinner somehow always tastes better after a day in the mountains!

This hike was dedicated to the glory of God, the Universe and living the Truth. I am thankful to have the health to enjoy such a spectacular day with my beloved husband and best buddy, Shogun, our faithful Chesapeake Bay Retriever.