San Luis Peak 8/14
11mi RT, 3850' EVG
After visiting Great Sand Dunes NP earlier in the day, we next drove to Creede in search of a campsite. There are some forest service roads around, but it seemed like FS 600/Pool Table Road would have the best options for us. We camped at the end of a small unnumbered road just past the 2nd cattle guard, near what looked like a weather station. This was a surprisingly nice place to camp with excellent views, though we did believe that it probably can get pretty windy in the sparse forest.
The next morning we drove up FS 403 to the Equity Mine, and took the 4WD road up to West Willow Creek TH. A few cars were already there, and we began the hike up to the intersection for San Luis Pass and the CDT cutoff around point 12520. The trail is very obvious as it climbs around the point and spits you out at the first saddle. We dropped from the saddle and connected up to the Continental Divide/Colorado Trail, where we passed a few backpackers. You have to lose a few hundred feet dropping into the basin, but soon you exit the forest and return to the tundra. At the Spring Creek crossing, we met the Bondholder Meadow trail that leads to the north, and following the CDT trail we reached the second saddle. From this saddle, you really get an impressive view of how large San Luis looks.
The next basin is about the same as the first, but the stretch to the San Luis saddle is a little longer. Below UN 13155 there are some interesting hoodoo spires, and at the final saddle you reach the intersection with the summit trail. Climbing the south ridge of San Luis is pretty easy thanks to the excellent trail and big cairns, though the upper half of the climb has more options as the trail becomes faint. There are several false summits along the way, but eventually the true summit comes into view. We fortunately had the summit all to ourselves, despite it being a Friday afternoon on a 14er. Views are excellent. and most of the other 14ers in the area were visible(except for the Wilson group, as far as we could tell).
On the way back we only saw a pair of ptarmigans until we were in view of the truck again. We met a backpacker who was through-hiking the Colorado Trail, and since the rain was threatening we gave him a ride down to Creede where he was going to resupply. In total we only saw 14 people all day and pretty much had complete seclusion on San Luis' non-standard route.
After visiting Great Sand Dunes NP earlier in the day, we next drove to Creede in search of a campsite. There are some forest service roads around, but it seemed like FS 600/Pool Table Road would have the best options for us. We camped at the end of a small unnumbered road just past the 2nd cattle guard, near what looked like a weather station. This was a surprisingly nice place to camp with excellent views, though we did believe that it probably can get pretty windy in the sparse forest.
The next morning we drove up FS 403 to the Equity Mine, and took the 4WD road up to West Willow Creek TH. A few cars were already there, and we began the hike up to the intersection for San Luis Pass and the CDT cutoff around point 12520. The trail is very obvious as it climbs around the point and spits you out at the first saddle. We dropped from the saddle and connected up to the Continental Divide/Colorado Trail, where we passed a few backpackers. You have to lose a few hundred feet dropping into the basin, but soon you exit the forest and return to the tundra. At the Spring Creek crossing, we met the Bondholder Meadow trail that leads to the north, and following the CDT trail we reached the second saddle. From this saddle, you really get an impressive view of how large San Luis looks.
The next basin is about the same as the first, but the stretch to the San Luis saddle is a little longer. Below UN 13155 there are some interesting hoodoo spires, and at the final saddle you reach the intersection with the summit trail. Climbing the south ridge of San Luis is pretty easy thanks to the excellent trail and big cairns, though the upper half of the climb has more options as the trail becomes faint. There are several false summits along the way, but eventually the true summit comes into view. We fortunately had the summit all to ourselves, despite it being a Friday afternoon on a 14er. Views are excellent. and most of the other 14ers in the area were visible(except for the Wilson group, as far as we could tell).
On the way back we only saw a pair of ptarmigans until we were in view of the truck again. We met a backpacker who was through-hiking the Colorado Trail, and since the rain was threatening we gave him a ride down to Creede where he was going to resupply. In total we only saw 14 people all day and pretty much had complete seclusion on San Luis' non-standard route.
