It is important that you're properly oriented before descending from Potosi Peak's complex west slopes, lest you end up in dangerous, cliffed-out terrain. Be certain you are directly east of the bend in the Yankee Boy road and poised above an orange scree mound. Doing this assures a messy yet safest descent from the mountain, which beats re-climbing the dangerously rotten talus of Coffee Pot. The descent route deposits you in the basin less than a quarter mile from your starting point. Summer, 2007. San Juan Mountains.

Digital photo by Aaron Johnson