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C to C 2020
Day 1 - Sunday, July 12, 2020
Waldorf Townsite & Argentine Pass

Day 1 (red line)  Yellow lines depict our travels for the other days. Trek from Fort Collins with a destination of southwest Colorado. We won't get anywhere close today so our day's destination is the Argentine trail system. We'll set camp next to the creek with a jump to the Waldorf townsite (where the town sat, no buildings exist) on the way to Argentine Pass.

A closer look of the trail. I would have imagined the camp site would have been farther into the trail. In retrospect I'm happy it wasn't farther into the trail as it would have been higher in elevation - read colder. This campsite was at 10,400 feet - the highest camp encountered on the trip (others 9850, 9420). My feet were a tad cold the next morning.

Why jump from I-70 to US-6 and back to I-70?  US-6 follows the Clear Creek for a steady elevation gain. I-70 has a couple LARGE ascents / descents between the two intersections. The jeep much prefers the easy route.

A bit of a downtown view

Heading up US-6 along Clear Creek

Out on the Argentine Pass trail We headed up "the creek route" and not the railbed route as we wished to select a campsite (which are near the creek, not the higher up on the hillside, railbed route).

Camp site #1 Rushing creek - check! Trees for a hammock - check (but there was no free time to hang it)

With the tents set for the night, we'll head up trail and see how far we get before the sun sets. This is the lower trail that is near the creek, occasionally crossing or riding in the creek.

We'll ride in the water, straight ahead, to where the water is flowing out of the bushes.

We passed through the Waldorf townsite with barely a stop as there is scant little evidence the town existed. Above timberline, heading to the pass

The power lines, typically not prominent in the expansive view on a mid-day visit, stand out with this lighting.

The trail was listed as "closed" / non-passable due to snow four days ago. This is the only spot where there was enough snow remaining to cause an issue - fortunately it's melted enough to be no issue today.

Up at Argentine Pass looking down at the Peru Creek valley on the other side. The two-track (full width vehicle road) we drove up turns into a foot path on the other side. The footpath is visible here in the photo. See it?  If not, check the next photo for the highlight.

Argentine Pass hiking trail

Daylight's drawing to a close - time to head to camp

At the pass we met another jeep - Eddie??? (Send an email and I'll forward the originals)