603 Redcloud and Sunshine
An easy drive-by set at the CDT crossing of Spring Creek Pass in CO

Yup, ever since climbing 14,000' Redcloud years ago, but getting caught in a wicked thunderstorm just a mile short of reaching nearby Sunshine (another "fourteener"), we've been meaning to get back out that way for another climb, even going so far as to have carved these stamps quite a while back as further incentive to have something to plant on top! However, once again after our Continental Divide trail building projects of 2015, we simply ran out of time, energy and good weather. So, until or unless we get another chance to get theses stamps closer to their namesake mountains, we decided to leave them at 10, 988' Spring Creek Pass, just a couple of mountain passes to the east between Lake City and Creede right along route 149.

On the south side of the highway there is an information kiosk where on the right panel you can read about the Colorado Trail and the Continental Divide Trail (both of which I backpacked several decades ago) and where on the left panel you can locate Redcloud and Sunshine. Go behind where these two "fourteeners" appear on the map, then take about 20 steps uphill northeast to the right side of a 3-foot tall lichen-covered reddish boulder. Look under its northeast overhang and remove a 4" cover rock to find a small 2" yellowish stone with a "Redcloud" stamp on its back, meant to be colored with red and blue ink.

Next proceed about 12 more steps at 120 degrees to a 1-foot tall lichen-covered rock, and look under its small southeast overhang for "Sunshine", meant to be colored yellow and blue. Hope you have a fun journey through these magnificent mountains with lots of clear blue skies!

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