Back to the Weminuche: Three Nights in Sunlight Basin

Welcome to Sunlight Basin, Wemunuche Wilderness, Colorado.

In mid-August Steve and I packed into the Weminuche and spent three nights camped on the shore of Sunlight Lake to the northeast of Sunlight Peak. Of course the main focus was to climb the 13ers surrounding the basin, but we were equally enamored with the idea of simply visiting this particular place given the lore around it.

Ever since my first pack-ins to the Weminuche I’d always held Sunlight Basin as this sort of mythical, rarely visited place. For many years it had a reputation of being so difficult to get to, people would look for alternate ways to hit the peaks in the area so as to avoid Sunlight Creek. Before his passing, John Fielder called it his favorite place in Colorado, and I’ve heard that same sentiment echoed by others who have made the trek in there. Needless to say, it had long been on the bucket list.

On the long approach up the Vallecito Creek drainage.

Indeed, to get there is no easy task. While there are a few different ways to do it, Steve and I ultimately chose to head in from the Vallecito Reservoir, north to the Sunlight Creek confluence and up to Sunlight Lake from there. It’s a 17-mile, 5,000 foot endeavor with overnight packs that involves some bushwhacking at the mouth of the basin. Overall though the use trail winding into the upper-basin, once you find it, is fairly pronounced these days.

Our home for three nights. That’s Sunlight Lake and Sunlight Peak in back. Click to enlarge.

After 9 hours of hiking we arrived at the shore of Sunlight Lake just after 7pm. We had just enough time to get the tent fly set up before it started raining, which it would do for the remainder of the evening. After not really doing much backpacking for several summers past, we were both pretty tired after such a big approach. But we were pumped to have finally made it to this place. We cooked up some dinner, got ready for the first round of peaks in the morning, and hit the sack.

The next morning on our way up Pt. 13,164.

First up on the docket was Pt. 13,164 (formerly 13,121 pre-LIDAR adjustment). Not too far from camp we quickly learned just how complex of a basin Sunlight really is. While technically one large basin, the area inside the basin is rife with ridgelines, bowl features, cliff faces and mini-drainages that sit between you and where you’re trying to go at all times. It was a real exercise in map reading and trial and error to find the most efficient path forward, but eventually we found ourselves on the northern flank of the peak with the summit in sight.

Steve on Pt. 13,164, which requires a few airy boulder moves to reach the true summit.

The summit register of 13,164 had entries from roughly 30 people dating back to 2014. Amazing how some of these summits see only a handful of visitors on an annual basis.

Moving on from 13,164 (in back), next up was Greylock Mountain at 13,575 feet.

On top of Greylock the weather looked to be holding so we drew out a long contouring traverse on the map, past Sundom Lake, over towards Knife Point.

Sundom Lake, which sits on a bench above Sunlight Lake at approximately 12,500 feet of elevation, is an incredible spot.

The views of Jagged reflecting off the glassy surface of Sundom Lake as Steve worked his way around the far bank were awesome. From there we wound our way through a few more cliff faces to finally arrive at the base of Knife Point, which is nothing more than a class 2/3 hump straight up an angling face for ~700 feet to the top.

Pigeon, Turret and the Animas Trio seen from near Knife Point’s summit. Click to enlarge.

With the weather still holding, we decided to tack on Peak Ten, a newly minted ranked peak added to the 13ers list thanks to LIDAR. It’s a pretty sweet little scramble up a blocky face with a challenging move or two to reach the true summit. Of course, it reminded us a lot of Jagged, which makes sense given the proximity of the two peaks to one another.

Moving up Peak Ten’s jaggedy south face blocks.

Peak Ten’s summit register with some decent exposure to the north. Jagged looks close enough from here to reach out and touch.

After scrambling back down Peak Ten, which entailed a few precarious moves as we accidentally got cliffed out towards the bottom by descending too far to the east, we plodded in to camp at 4pm. With the sun out we had all afternoon to lounge on the banks of Sunlight Lake.

Refreshing.

Eventually some curious locals decided to pay us a visit as well.

A nice dinner gave way to a clear, starry night. Besides the rain on the first night the weather stayed clear for the remainder of the trip. Always nice when the forecast works out in a place as remote as this.

Starry night over Jagged.

The next morning we left camp intent on hopping over the Windom/Sunlight Spire saddle into upper-Chicago Basin. Neither of us had done Peak Eleven, which resides to the west of Sunlight Peak just east of Twin Thumbs Pass. As we were making our way over the saddle we figured why not hit Sunlight Basin’s namesake peak to make the day more interesting? Seemed apropos, so up Sunlight Peak we went…

Steve making Sunlight Peak’s (14,061 feet) summit jump look plenty dramatic. Neither of us had been up this one in 15 years.

Looking north at Knife Point and Peak Ten from Sunlight Peak’s summit area. If you can make out the summit of Peak Ten as it blends into Jagged’s south face, more power to you. Click to enlarge.

After the fun walk down memory lane we descended into the Twin Lakes area and then schlepped up towards Twin Thumbs Pass. A small cairn marks the start of the route up Peak Eleven, which breaks off up a steep ramp bisecting a cliff face just below the pass. A thousand feet or so up this ramp leads to Eleven’s summit block, and it’s a short, sweet walk to the top from there.

Twin Thumbs Pass and Peak Eleven on the right.

Back at camp we had another few hours to spend on the lake shore before the sun dipped behind the ridge line. Dinner and whiskey were served, after which we were treated to an incredible sunset over Jagged and Knife Point…

Not too shabby. Click to enlarge.

The next morning all we had to do was pack up, say goodbye to Sunlight Basin, and pack out. Heavy packs on tired legs for 17 miles, but at least it was mostly downhill.

Breaking up the slog. There are some nice swim holes along Vallecito Creek.

All in all we nabbed 6 peaks, and 5 new 13ers for each of us plus the 14er repeat. Checking some of the most interior peaks off the list felt great too, but the main highlight and lasting takeaway from this one was the three nights spent in such a special place. Whether either of us will ever make it into Sunlight Basin again, who knows, but I can definitely say with confidence it lived up to the hype. A special place indeed.

A parting shot. Vintage Weminuche.

Cheers 🙂