Stony Pass to Kite Lake

Brian D. organized a fun run to Kite Lake. But before he put out the details of the club event, he and some fellow club members went on a scouting trip the week prior.

The drive out to Kite Lake from Silverton and back makes for a long day. It’s about 13 miles from Silverton to the top of Stony Pass, 3 more miles to the Kite Lake turnoff just after Pole Creek, and another 6 miles to Kite Lake. The last few miles get much more steep and narrow, with loose rocks. Typically, there would be a tremendous amount of water running in the section of road just before Kite Lake, but with the summer drought, it was mostly dry.

During the club run, we were passed by many dirt bikes, possibly related to the Colorado 500 dirt bike challenge. With the dryness also came a lot of dust from both the bikes and vehicles.

Kite Lake is a beautiful alpine lake, though with the lower water level, there was a lot of trash that could be seen at the bottom. There were also campfire rings with wood gathered from old structures that once stood in the area. And behind every tree was a pile of toilet paper. The lack of respect for the San Juan Mountains is disheartening. We can do better!

Both the scouting trip and the club fun run were great days, filled with great fun and great people. Many thanks to Brian for organizing both trips!

Here are combined photos of the 2 runs courtesy of Brian D., Ron R., Julia B. and me.