Hiking in the Huerfano Basin of the Sangre de Cristo’s

After all these years living in Colorado I finally hiked in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of southern CO.  They are a steep narrow and dramatic range, where most of the hikes are rated difficult due to the large and steep elevation gains.  Colin hiked the Huerfano Basin a week ago and recommended it...in theory it’s relatively easy, but I turned a relatively easy hike into a 9 hour hike with lots of time bushwhacking off trail and ultimately almost 2,000 feet of elevation gain.  On the way down, I drove through Westcliffe, as I had never been through there and had heard it was beautiful.  It does indeed have a commanding view of the Sangre de Cristos.  To get to the trailhead requires about ten miles up a forest service road that progressively worsens, and travels much of the way through a private ranch.  I got within a half mile of the trailhead before the road looked too dicey for the CR-V, and set up camp in one the numerous pull outs along the upper part of the road.  Only saw three other cars, and only 4 other people, and didn’t see anyone at all on my 9 hour hike.  Amazingly though two of the people I saw camped right below me...there were a ton of other places they could have camped and been out of sight...but no.  People can be quite perplexing.  Why you would drive all the way back there and then set up camp next to the only other person back there is crazy.  They were quiet at least.  Anyway, it was an epic day, spectacular scenery, a good workout, scrambling through a couple of  Large areas of downed timber in newer avalanche runs, A lot of bushwhacking, and a big hail storm about an hour before I finished made for a most memorable trip.