On Sunday, I climbed Carbonate Mountain (12,250 ft) in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. To start the hike, I drove to Mosca Pass. There is a road up to pass on the eastern side. It is one of the few gravel roads in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that I can drive with my car. The trail to Carbonate Mountain is not well known. There are no signs pointing the way. To get to the trail, I followed the Mosca Pass Trail east for about 300 yards. Then I took an unmarked trail that went off to the left. Shortly after getting off the Mosca Pass Trail, I came across the ruins of an old cabin in a beautiful meadow.
Afternoon shot of the cabin in the meadow
From the cabin, I followed a path that took me to the ridgeline. For the most part, the path follows the ridgeline the rest of the way up. The first grand view came at an unnamed knob at 11,268 feet. I could basically see the entire sand field of the Great Sand Dunes National Park.
The Great Sand Dunes
Mosca Pass
The false summit of Carbonate Mtn on the right. Mt. Lindsey peaking out on the left.
The path was not as obvious after the view from the knob. I guess the few people that find this trail are satisfied with that view. My goal was to go further though. After a steep climb, I reached treeline. And to my surprise, I found an abandoned miners cabin on top of the ridge. There was an abandoned mine shaft that was nearby as well. The cabin had a pretty good view to say the least.
Miners Cabin. Picture taken from the ridgeline.
From the cabin, I climbed the false summit. The top of the Carbonate Mountain is just beyond the false summit.
View of Carbonate Mtn from the false summit.
View of Mt. Lindsey, Iron Nipple, Blanca Peak, and others.
From the top of Carbonate Mountain, I was looking at the map and noticed that the next major peak over was a little bit higher than Carbonate Mountain. There was also something on the top of the peak. (I’m not sure if the peak has a name. Google Earth marks it as North Zapata Ridge. It is the high point of that ridge at 12,330 ft.) I figured it was less than a mile to the peak. The weather was perfect. So I kept going and expanded my goal.
Blanca Peak in the center. North Zapata Ridge with object on top on the right.
The object on top of the peak turned out to be a major rock cairn. There were some nice wildflowers on top of the peak. There were also some white rocks which I am guessing is marble, but I’m not a geologist. Anyway, I turned around and made the trek back to my car from there. It was a beautiful and interesting hike.
Rock Cairn on top of North Zapata Ridge
A Flower
A view of the Dunes with Kit Carson Mtn. and Crestone Peaks visible on the right.
White rocks, Carbonate Mtn, & Mt. Herard.
The Dunes. Day Use area and CG is visible if you know where to look.
2 comments:
The Carbonate Mtn Trail looks very interesting & scenic. Wonder why it's not used any more than it is.
The rock cairn in your pictures has a very interesting history. It was built by the Boy Scouts from Troupe 123 in Alamosa in 1921 so that people playing in the disappearing creek at the Great Sand Dunes could tell what the high point was on the ridge line of the North Zapata Ridge.
Keep on Hiking. Looks like you're having fun.
I saw the goal too (live on TV). It was a cracker and I wondered if you were there.
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