Engineering the Perfect View

Engineer Mountain rises above a cool lake and forest

Engineer Mountain

A most beautiful mountain that reaches 12,968 feet above sea level.

Electra and Engineer

Dark Skies

Rain falls on and around Engineer Mountain and the Hermosa Cliffs, hastening the melt of the remaining snowpack.

Engineer Mountain

Engineer Mountain

It has been a while since I have been able to get a good view of Engineer. I don't work too much in the winter season, so my opportunities to take pictures are minimal. Now it is starting to get busy again, so that means I will be able to get to more varied areas around Durango. I took this from an area just north of Hermosa. The summit of Engineer is about 20 miles northof where this picture was taken.

San Juan Peaks

Looking north from the summit of Engineer Mountain. I took this during a summertime hike.

Glacial Scour

Looking North toward the heart of the San Juans. Highway 550 lies below the glacially scoured Hermosa Cliffs.

Purgatory...

Doesn't look so bad.

Engineer rises above Columbine Lake in Purgatory, north of Durango on Hwy 550.

Engineer Dressed for Fall

I was up at Purgatory yesterday for work when I snapped this photo. I would say we are past the peak of fall color, but everything still looks exquisite.

View to the North

This is looking north from the summit of Engineer Mountain. The San Juans extend into the distance. Please click the photo to enlarge. This is the last post of my Engineer hike.

Summit

After two hours of hiking, we make it to the summit. 12968 ft / 3953 m

Negotiating the Crux

Here we are passing through the most difficult part of the climb. We had to stem up and out of a rock chimney and once out, we were greeted by this exposed flank of the mountain. Here is where Engineer really starts to take on the ccrumbly, rotten characteristics or the rock that are so typical of the San Juan Mountains. This traverse would normally be a walk in the park, but we were faced with many "souvenir" holds. Holds that come out into your hand as you grab them. For me, this just added a new level of excitement and really made me conscious of what I was doing.

Approaching the Crux

The trail is beginning to follow a natural cleavage in the rock, and the hardest part of the climb is just on the other side. To our left is the jagged and crumbly wall of stone and to our right is a few hundred feet of air.

Really getting up there

As we climb higher and our elevation grows, the view starts to open up around us. Looking Northwest toward Grizzly Peak (13, 738 ft).

Nearing the Base

Our view opens, and Engineer Mountain looms before us.

Wildflower season in the high country

A friend and I took a hike to the summit of Engineer Mountain yesterday and I was surprised that we happened to be in the middle of wildflower season in the high country. It was meadow after meadow of multi-hued flowers crowding the grasses

Lake of the Pines

Sorry for the late post. I had a busy night on the town and forgot to fix the schedule.

A View from the top

From the top of Durango Mountain Resort at Purgatory.

Engineer over Electra

Engineer rises above Electra Lake, a private reservoir owned by Xcel Energy. The water is stored here for the Tacoma Hydro Generating Station