Dates of Trip: 28 August 2010
Climbers: hobo and tortoise
Location: San Juan Range, CO, USA
Trailhead: West Willow Creek
Summit Objectives: San Luis
Summits: San Luis Peak at 14019 ft
Starting Ele: 11500 ft
Ele. Gain: ~3700ft
Distance: 11 mi
We drove out to the old mining town of Creede after work on Friday - a gorgeous drive. We drove up the box canyon just north of Creede in the dark, the old mine ruins looming in the shadows. We camped at what we thought was the trailhead and had a very pleasant night.
In the morning we discovered we were about a half mile from the trailhead, so we followed the other 14er baggers (not *too* many, as this is a non-standard route) to the trailhead at the end of the road and got on the trail.
This is a long-ish hike, as many in the San Juans are, but gentle and very scenic, cresting two passes before the summit push and contouring around their valleys. There is a very disappointing section of significant elevation loss after the first mile or so, but other than that, it's very satisfying.
We made good time to the summit and spent about 20 minutes there, eating lunch and chatting with other hikers, and then rather suddenly, the sky started to cloud up and the temperature dropped. There were still people on their way up, but we took the opportunity to drop down, quickly. We got a few spatters of rain, but nothing too serious. Still, we were in a hurry to get to a safer elevation and more protected area.
I got rather fatigued toward the end (which I'm blaming on being 5 weeks pregnant), which made the push back up that segment about a mile from the trailhead quite a slog, but I made it. It was a really fun hike.
We ate dinner at a hippy burger joint in Creede before driving home that evening.
We drove out to the old mining town of Creede after work on Friday - a gorgeous drive. We drove up the box canyon just north of Creede in the dark, the old mine ruins looming in the shadows. We camped at what we thought was the trailhead and had a very pleasant night.
In the morning we discovered we were about a half mile from the trailhead, so we followed the other 14er baggers (not *too* many, as this is a non-standard route) to the trailhead at the end of the road and got on the trail.
This is a long-ish hike, as many in the San Juans are, but gentle and very scenic, cresting two passes before the summit push and contouring around their valleys. There is a very disappointing section of significant elevation loss after the first mile or so, but other than that, it's very satisfying.
We made good time to the summit and spent about 20 minutes there, eating lunch and chatting with other hikers, and then rather suddenly, the sky started to cloud up and the temperature dropped. There were still people on their way up, but we took the opportunity to drop down, quickly. We got a few spatters of rain, but nothing too serious. Still, we were in a hurry to get to a safer elevation and more protected area.
I got rather fatigued toward the end (which I'm blaming on being 5 weeks pregnant), which made the push back up that segment about a mile from the trailhead quite a slog, but I made it. It was a really fun hike.
We ate dinner at a hippy burger joint in Creede before driving home that evening.
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