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2005/06/18
San Luis Peak
West Willow Creek
If you lack certain masochistic tendencies and get impatient over relentless gear and clothing changes, you might want to wait until the snow melts before attempting San Luis Peak via the West Willow Creek TH.
The4WD road from the Equity mine is in good shape with just one significant stream crossing. The plan was an alpine start and to bypass San Luis Pass by taking an old jeep road around a rocky point and down the shoulder to the Colorado Trail. The second part of the plan worked – me and my dog Sara started out about 5:45. It was clear and breezy. There was snow on the hillsides and gullies but the trail was clear until we descended into the trees which was the crux of the route (both ways). I put my snowshoes on as the trail disappeared in deep drifts and tangles of deadfall. We picked our way through on mostly firm snow ascending a small runoff and finally coming out at a saddle just above the first of two large basins. Climbing out of the second larger one I stashed the snowshoes just below the saddle and started up San Luis’s broad South Ridge. The views were spectacular -most of this route is around 12,000 feet - and the tiny tundra flowers were in full bloom. Even the wind had subsided so while it felt slow, it was a pleasant and easy hike. I saw a guy looking down at us as we approached but he was gone before we got there. We reached the summit about 10:00 and were joined shortly after by a couple of gals and then by a group of four or five guys who had come up by way of Stewart Creek. There was no register. We stayed for a good while - about 45 minutes - any longer and I feared I would become the resident photographer – and then headed down stopping to change clothes and pick up the snowshoes on the way. I was tired of them but there was no way around it in the big basin. Clear, rocky patches would give way to fields of deep, ever-softening snow that would swallow you up and tire you out. So I put the snowshoes back on and took them off and put them on and took them off. In the second basin I made it into a kind of game to see how much snow I could avoid, but then, it was back to the TREES. There I was faced with three choices; stay really high, plow through the willows or dive back into the forest. I took a route just below the willows but soon realized why the trail was diverted lower at this point - we had come to a very large and steep drainage. Even the ol’ MSR’s weren’t gripping on a steep slope so I bit the bullet, plunged down and played another game, “Intuit the Trail” with mixed success. Finally after much huffing and puffing we were out and on our way back up the Colorado Trail, an ascent that seemed quite strenuous after all that had gone before. One last climb up the slippery sloped shoulder and we were home free on the jeep road and back to the car about 3:00. |
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