Sawtooths June 21st-24th

andyjaggy

andyjaggy

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Dec 2, 2013
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I am planning a backpacking trip June 21st-24th and was thinking about heading up to the Sawtooths. Does anyone know what the snowpack situation is up there? The mountains are a bit lower than other places so I am hopeful that with a lousy winter and lower elevation a trip in late June would be doable up there. Any ideas
 
My backup plan is the San Juans, I have heard they had a lousy snow year and the high mountains are already accessible.
 
andyjaggy said:
My backup plan is the San Juans, I have heard they had a lousy snow year and the high mountains are already accessible.
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I'm heading to the San Juans this weekend and from what I hear, they are dry and pretty much summer conditions. They are currently shrouded in thick smoke from wildfires, though....so hopefully they get those under control soon.

Sure hope they don't end up closing the forests like they have done in NM and AZ...
 
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Fires.......... yeah that might change my plans. Any good site to keep track of colorado fire info?
 
I use RadarScope on my phone. You could check it before you hit the trail and on trail when you have service (if at all). 8BC179EA-628F-47E8-884F-997B3D6B7462.jpeg
 
Here's an other camera.
http://www.sawtoothcamera.com
A few years ago I went a couple times in June, slightly earlier than you're planning, but every thing was still snow bound above 8000'. Trip reports are up here if you want to look at them.
 
Thanks for the info everyone. I am actually shooting for Colorado now and am hoping those wildfires are out within the next two weeks. I will post a trip report, I promise! Nick may just track me down and force one out of me at knife point if I don't start volunteering up photos and trip reports.
 
andyjaggy said:
Thanks for the info everyone. I am actually shooting for Colorado now and am hoping those wildfires are out within the next two weeks. I will post a trip report, I promise! Nick may just track me down and force one out of me at knife point if I don't start volunteering up photos and trip reports.
Click to expand...

I'm heading to the San Juans this weekend and can let you know conditions next week.
 
Well, I just got back from an overnight trip into the Weminuche along the Continental Divide near Silverton and it's pretty dry up there. I'd guess that conditions are similar to early/mid July during a normal snow year in the San Juans.

The wind was blowing pretty hard this weekend and the smoke was coming straight towards us, so it was pretty bad. We even had ash raining down on us for much of the day. The spectacular sunset was worth it, though.

Because of the winds, the wildfire doubled in size yesterday and certain parts of the forest have been closed off completely, besides the Stage II fire ban that went into effect on Friday. The last 3 segments of the Colorado Trail are now closed and I heard that Highway 550 is closed indefinitely between Durango and Molas Pass.

Depending on which was the wind is blowing, the smoke can be pretty bad throughout the San Juans.
 
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