Chicago Basin: How to Backpack Colorado's Train-Access Trip to Three 14ers

Chicago Basin is a high alpine bowl in southwestern Colorado's Weminuche Wilderness, and it's the launch point for three of the state's most remote 14ers: Sunlight Peak, Windom Peak, and Mount Eolus. What makes it famous isn't just the peaks. It's how you get there. Most backpackers ride the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a coal-fired steam train, and hop off at a flag stop called Needleton deep in the San Juan Mountains, then hike about 6 miles up to camp. There's no road, no trailhead parking lot, and no cell signal. You reach it on a hundred-year-old railroad or you walk 17 miles.

That combination of a steam-train approach, a basin ringed by jagged peaks, and a bumper crop of habituated mountain goats makes Chicago Basin a bucket-list trip for Colorado backpackers. It's also a real one. You're at 11,200 feet before you climb anything, the weather turns fast, and the summit routes range from a walk-up to a Class 4 move that stops a lot of people cold at the top.

This guide covers the train and how to flag it, the hike from Needleton, the four summits above the basin, camping and permit rules, the goat-and-marmot problem that's unique to this place, when to go, and what to pack for a trip where you can't run back to the car.

Jupiter Mountain stands over the floor of Chicago Basin. Camps spread through the trees below timberline at around 11,200 feet.

What You'll Learn

• Quick Stats
• Where Is Chicago Basin?
• Getting There on the Durango & Silverton Train
• The Hike In: Needle Creek Trail
• The Four Peaks Above the Basin
• Camping, Permits, and Fires
• Mountain Goats and Marmots
• When to Go
• What to Pack
• Frequently Asked Questions

Quick Stats {#quick-stats}

• Location: Weminuche Wilderness, San Juan National Forest, near Durango
• Access: Durango & Silverton train to the Needleton flag stop, then hike
• Hike to camp: about 6 miles, roughly 3,000 feet of gain
• Basin elevation: about 11,200 feet; timberline near 11,800 feet
• 14ers: Sunlight Peak (14,059 ft), Windom Peak (14,082 ft), Mount Eolus (14,083 ft), plus unranked North Eolus (14,039 ft)
• Permit: none required, and no fee to camp
• Train fare: about $35 per person each way for wilderness access
• Season: normally snow-free late June through mid-September
• Dogs: allowed, but the goats and long peak days make it hard on them

Where Is Chicago Basin? {#where}

Chicago Basin sits in the heart of the Weminuche Wilderness, the largest wilderness area in Colorado, in the San Juan Mountains northeast of Durango. The Weminuche is rugged, remote country, and this basin is one of its deepest pockets. The nearest road ends miles away, which is exactly why the train matters.

The basin is a glacier-carved bowl that drains into Needle Creek. Ring the top of it and you get the Needle Mountains, a cluster of steep, rocky summits that includes the three 14ers people come for. Because the whole area is so far from a trailhead, it stays wild in a way that closer Colorado peaks don't. You won't find day hikers here. Everyone in the basin carried a pack in.

If you're building a bigger Durango trip around this, our guide to the best hikes near Durango covers the shorter, road-accessible options that pair well with a big backpacking objective.

Getting There on the Durango & Silverton Train {#train}

The classic way in is the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. You board in Durango on a morning departure, ride roughly 30 miles up the Animas River gorge, and get off at Needleton, a flag stop with no station, no town, just a clearing by the tracks and a footbridge over the river. The wilderness-access fare runs about $35 per person each way, and the service typically runs from mid-May into mid-October.

A few things trip people up, so plan for them:

• Reserve ahead through the Durango ticket office. Tell them you want wilderness access to Needleton and give them your return date. Space is limited and these trips book up in summer.
• You get on and off in Durango. The northbound train drops you at Needleton; to leave, you flag the Durango-bound train on your exit day. Confirm the schedule and your pickup with the ticket office before you go, because it changes by season.
• Flag the train to stop. On your way out, stand where the crew can see you and wave it down. The conductor is expecting backpackers there, but you still have to signal.

The train reaches Needleton around midday, which leaves you the afternoon to hike the 6 miles up to camp. If you'd rather not deal with the schedule, you can hike in from the Purgatory trailhead north of Durango instead, but that turns a 6-mile approach into roughly 17 miles one way down to the Animas and back up Needle Creek. Almost everyone takes the train.

Needleton is just a clearing and a footbridge over the Animas River. From here the Needle Creek Trail climbs east into the basin.

The Hike In: Needle Creek Trail {#hike-in}

From Needleton, cross the footbridge over the Animas River and pick up the Needle Creek Trail heading east. It's a well-built, steady climb that gains about 3,000 feet over roughly 6 miles as it follows Needle Creek up into the basin. There's nothing technical about the walk in. It's just a long, uphill haul with a full backpacking load at altitude, and you started the day at 8,200 feet.

Most people leave the train around midday and reach camp in the late afternoon, which is plenty of time if you keep moving. Give yourself a cushion, though. Afternoon thunderstorms build fast in the San Juans, and you don't want to be caught high and exposed with a heavy pack. Filter your water straight from Needle Creek along the way; it runs the whole route.

Because you gain so much elevation and then sleep at 11,200 feet, altitude is a genuine concern here, especially if you drove up from sea level a day or two earlier. Read up on altitude sickness prevention and treatment before this trip and build in an easy first day. Summit day will punish you if you show up already behind on acclimatization.

The Four Peaks Above the Basin {#peaks}

Chicago Basin is base camp for four named summits, three of them ranked 14ers. Most people camp two or three nights and try to bag all of them, launching from camp before dawn and gaining another 2,000-plus feet up to the high country around Twin Lakes, where the routes split.

• Windom Peak (14,082 ft) is the most straightforward of the three, a Class 2+ scramble up its west ridge. It's the one to do first if you want to build confidence.
• Sunlight Peak (14,059 ft) is the wild card. The route is Class 4 near the top, and the true summit is a detached block you reach by stepping across a gap with big air underneath. Plenty of experienced hikers climb to the base of that block, look at it, and call it good. There's no shame in it.
• Mount Eolus (14,083 ft) involves the "Catwalk," a narrow rib of rock connecting to the upper mountain, followed by Class 3 scrambling. It's airy but has good holds.
• North Eolus (14,039 ft) is an unranked 14er most people tag on the way to or from Eolus, since it's a short Class 3 detour off the same saddle.

If you're new to peaks like these, don't make Chicago Basin your first 14er. Start on friendlier ground. Our roundup of the easiest 14ers in Colorado for beginners and the broader Colorado 14ers guide will tell you honestly where these three rank on the difficulty scale (near the hard end).

Dawn light on the Eolus peaks. Summit days here start in the dark to beat the afternoon storms.