2.2 Mile, 1372' Lizard Head Wilderness
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June 2 - 4, 2007 Lizard Head 11583’, north 37° 49’ 17”, west 107° 57’ 11” 2.2 mile, 1372’ Lizard Head Wilderness, San Juan National Forest, Dolores County, Colorado The Lizard Head looks to the sky from it’s 12000’ perch twelve miles almost due south of Sawpit, Colorado. You can’t drive there, but if you drive on CO-145 south for 21.6 miles from Sawpit, you can park at the trailhead for Lizard Head Pass Trail, and can see the 13113’ spire. But you still need to walk about four miles in the San Miguel Mountains to touch the old rocky spire. Getting to the top, however, is for experts. One internet climbing site says it’s not safe to climb anymore because it’s rock is rotting and unstable. Another site calls the volcanic pinnacle the state's most dangerous climb. Another calls Lizard Head peak a recommended conditioning or training climb in preparation for other climbs in the area, such as the Mt. Wilson – El Diente Traverse, only three miles west. At a little after 10 am on Saturday morning Kent and I met at the Cross Mountain Trail Head parking lot, about two miles south of Lizard Head Pass on CO-145. One empty vehicle was parked at the trailhead. Another, occupied by a couple of trail runners who had jogged down the trail almost as soon as I arrived, had left a bit before Kent arrived. A cowboy and his horse and dog pulled in while we were getting ready, saddled up and was off on a day ride to Navajo Lake, a popular destination at 11154’ in the valley west of Mt. Wilson. Titan and the cowboy’s dog played while we readied our packs. When the cowboy mounted his horse Titan let off a few warning whoofs . The cowboy started off at about 10:30. Kent and I finished splitting up the food and gear, packing it in our packs, and got on the trail at just about 11 am. It was clear and mild, a good day for a hike in the San Miguels. We hiked up Cross Mountain Trail past the old lumber mill, about a mile from the trailhead. Shortly thereafter the cowboy passed us on his way back down. He had turned back because of snow. He said would try another route to Navajo Lake. We continued on, hitting snowfields on the trail just past the old mill. In the snow we lost the trail and found the trail more than a few times before we made off in our own direction. We walked under the fir canopy and soon were walking in, and breaking through, constant snow. We picked our way through the deep snow trying to find solid ground wherever possible. Almost three hours into the hike we came into the clearings just below timberline. In the clearings the snow had all but melted. We were glad to walk on dirt again. We followed dirt, and the trail, until we came upon timberline at about 11400’, a little over a mile south of Lizard Head Peak. We searched around a bit and found an old campsite at 11583’, north 37º 49.2’ by west 107º 49.3’. The new Garmin GPS, a birthday gift, was working fine. We set up the tent in the same spot as the campers who had last camped there. The camp was probably set the previous winter because there were piles of snow at one end of the tent sized clearing, where there was otherwise no snow. They had cleared a nice flat area under a thick stand of trees. Our two man tent fit perfectly. We put up a kitchen tarp a few yards away and made a surface fire ring. Though we were at timberline, there was quite a bit of dead wood on the ground and we would not need much. Plenty of granite had fallen from the steep rocky slope to the northeast so we easily found rocks for the camp stove. After we were set up we turned to drying out some socks that had seeped water from tromping through deep snow without gaiters. Kent wanted to climb to the ridge to the northeast, but we decided to do it in the morning. Instead we lazed Lizard Head Peak from camp around for the rest of the afternoon. 1 We set up a paper target on a log and shot a couple dozen .44 Specials through my new pistol. It was almost dusk when we finished. Then we heated water for dinner: some potatoes from The Spice Hunter 1 and some Beef Stew from Mountain House 2. We had some rolls, cookies and, of course Tang. After the excellent dinner we stoked up a fire and sat around until dark. Kent was in the tent second, moving the early-to-bed-dog out of the way so he could lay down in his sleeping bag. After the fire died out I joined them, having to push the same dog off of my bag. The next thing we knew it was getting light in the morning. We got up about 8 and ate a breakfast of oatmeal, with Tang and coffee. After cleaning up we readied for a day hike along the ridges near Lizard Head. We took cameras, food and the GPS, and of course some emergency supplies and rain gear. It was a nice spring morning at timberline, crisp and clear and not cold at all. We scrambled up the steep slope to the northeast to a saddle at about 11960’, nearly 400 feet higher than camp. As we approached the saddle we went into sneak mode, just in case there were any animals grazing in the morning sun. As we topped out, the rugged Yellow Mountains skyline came into startling view. We had a splendid view of the snow covered Beattie Peak (13342’, at the south), Fuller Peak (13761’),Vermilion Peak (13894’), Golden Horn (13731’), and Pilot Knob (13738’), making up most of Yellow Mountains Yellow Mountain. We did not see any animals, but we had a great view, to be sure. We walked to the peak toward the south end of the ridge and identified various areas Kent had been in over the years We could easily see the valley to the southwest, carved out by the Dolores River, and the various valleys to it’s northwest. Kent pointed out the valleys formed by Slate Creek just below us, Coal Creek four miles away, and the West Dolores River nearly ten miles away. To the northwest Cross Mountain (12709’) hides Gladstone Peak (13913’), directly behind it. A sliver of he south ridge of Mount Wilson (14246’) could be seen just left of, and nearly hidden by, Cross Mountain, . All of these peaks held many plenty of snow that would feed the streams and rivers below through the summer. Wilson Meadows lies to the northeast, just north of Black Face, the long black ridge seen from highway CO-145. Kent reminisced about his times in that meadow. In the past the meadow could be reached via a trail from CO-145, north of Lizard Head Pass at Trout Lake. The trail snaked up through a saddle at the northeast end of Black Face and then dropped into the meadow. But the trail has been closed for a number of years and a new trail starts at Lizard Head Pass on CO-145 and follows the slope below Black Face, crossing the ridge in the same saddle. We had hoped to hike into Wilson Meadows and camp, but the amount of snow still on the ground altered our plans. Directly south is Flattop Mountain (12098’), a long slightly sloping mountain above tree line that was still covered in snow. Most of the scene in that direction is dark evergreen forest. Below Flattop we could see most of the areas we had hunted the previous year and the meadow where Cindy’s cabin was situated. 1 The Spice Hunter, San Luis Obispo, California. 800-444-3061 2 Mountain House, a division of Oregon Freeze Dry, Inc., Albany, Oregon. 800-547-0244 2 To the north is Lizard Head, at 13113’, whose peak spires over 400’ above it’s base. The peak resembles a Lizard Head if it is seen from the north, but we would not see the Lizard on this trip. All day long we had been picking our way between snowfields. The snow was hard enough to support our weight in many places, but we would break through in many other places, making walking on the snow difficult. Plenty of snow would make our path to the north side slightly more than difficult. We opted to see the Lizard some other time. Lizard Head, 13110’ As we walked along the ridge toward Lizard Head Peak, Kent spotted some elk across the valley on Cross Mountain. We spied on them with binoculars for a half an hour. There were two cows grazing in the rock , and another maybe a half a mile to the west grazing on a steep slope in some alpine grass. We postulated at least thirty reasons they were there. And we made thirty predictions about where they would spend the night. About then we decided to move north on the ridge and the follow it to the west, in the direction of the elk. Cross Mountain, 12709’ We caught the Cross Mountain Trail where it comes onto the ridgeline south of Lizard Head. We followed the trail north to where Lizard Head Trail meets it on the south slope of Lizard Head Peak.