Although it wasn't that far in a straight line to the next trailhead it was a long long drive by the 2WD roads we had to take. We drove a good bit one evening and then slept by a reservoir. The next morning (July 21st) there was much repacking and gear sorting and I jumped in the lake. Much more driving and a few stops later we made it to the Purgatory Flats trailhead a bit after 4 pm. It was pouring rain. We hid in the vehicles for a few minutes 'til it stopped and then packed up and finally got to hiking around 5:30 - quite a few hours after I had hoped and pretty late for a 13 mile hike. Nalumon was smart enough to avoid this nonsense and was taking the train the next morning.
At first we just went down to the flats. The conditions were pretty good except for the mosquitos. I think they would have been brutal if we weren't hiking. It was a nice surprise to pass Daniel who recognized me (I climbed with him in Wyoming many years ago). After the flats the trail went up a lot to pass a steep gorge, then back down to the Animas River. There we crossed and briefly walked on a narrow gauge RR track. We toyed with the idea of just walking up the tracks but didn't know if trains would come and it would have required overshooting our turnoff up to Chicago Basin. We probably should have done it anyway for the novelty and flatter grade.
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We were hiking fairly fast but needed to put on the headlamps a bit before the turnoff up to the basin. Up to that point the trail was following the river grade with a few ups and downs to keep us from getting complacent. Once we turned off up to the basin the trail was relentlessly uphill. We had about 3,000 feet of elevation to gain so it had to do it somehow. There was a bit of rain off and on but not quite enough to make me get out the raingear. Finally we made it up to the basin - but we still had to hike to the upper end near where the peaks were. That took a bit more and then all the obvious camping spots were taken - and we didn't want to barge through people's camps after midnight with headlamps searching for a site. We found a flattish place and set up camp just as it started raining for real. With the 3 of us in my 2 person tent on lumpy ground in the rain it wasn't my best nights sleep - but I was tired and wanted to get an early start for the peaks the next day.
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July 22 - we got up about 5:30 with mountain goats around the tent. It took a while to repack and get going but we headed up the trail about 7. There was a lot of up to get to Twin Lakes basin and then more to head up Sunlight Peak but it was pretty scenic with waterfalls, flowers, and lakes. It would have been nice to camp up in that basin but I don't think it could handle the traffic. The final summit blocks of Sunlight were quite exciting but grippy granite giant blocks. The dropoff on the far side was considerable. Then we descended and traversed over to and up Windom Peak. This was a more straightforward talus ridge scramble with just a few big blocks at the top. On the descent we discovered that Marmots had chewed the wrist straps for Sam's trekking poles that he had stashed (probably for the salt or some other essential Sam essence). Raquel had stashed her pack lower but although there was a marmot sitting on it, it had not been chewed.
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We stopped to take a few pics above the lakes and some trekking pole snowball batting practice and then continued back down to our camp with a little bit of rain. We scoped out and moved to a much flatter spot where we set up both tents. There were a whole lot of flies here. Eventually Nalumon came up the trail. She took the train from Durango to Needleton that morning and hiked up from there. We had an early dinner and bed as it had been a long day without enough sleep.
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Summary of July 21 and 22, two 14ers, about 19.5 miles 13 with an overnight pack, 8500 feet of elevation gain, getting to camp after midnight, rain, marmot chewed pole straps, and lots of goats.