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TR - 2003/07/27 - La Plata
Lake Creek TH
Keith & Beth Bershader
We decided to camp the night before at the trailhead so we wouldn't have to wake up early to drive. Ate dinner in Leadville at The Golden Burro Cafe local greasy spoon. Would I eat there again, probably not. Camping at the trailhead, not a good idea. It's right off 82, so cars & headlights all night. 2 others camped next to us & the space isn't too big so they were right next to us. Whatever, you have to kind of expect that if you're going to sleep at at the TH. It was worth sleeping in a little longer I suppose. Got started at 6:20am. We worried about all the clouds in this early in the morning but we were hoping they'd burn off. We figured since we were there we'd go as far as we could. It was easy to find the trail off the private South Fork Lake Creek Rd. We were impressed by the wooden bridge over the incredible gorge. Followed that through the woods on pretty flat for the first 1/2 mile. Then it goes steeply up along the creek for about a mile. Nice wooden steps built by CFI. It flattens out as the gulch opens up for about another 1/2 mile. Then the switchbacks start. Although steep, I thought they were fun little ones. Half way up the slope you head straight across for a ways then begin some longer switchbacks. Excellent & impressive trailwork by the CFI. Marmots everywhere, lots of babies out. Too cute! And tons of beautiful columbines. Reached the saddle & had a quick 5 minute snack. Right below the saddle a couple was camped on a little flat nook, we thought it was a pretty awesome spot to camp with great views all around. But we most enjoyed looking at the Ellingwood Ridge. That's incredible! We saw one guy about 1/2 way on the ridge downclimbing a notch. We never saw him again so we figured he probably was on the other side of the ridge for most of it. We then headed up the ridge our last mile & over 1,000 feet to gain. It felt steep & slow but we amazingly made great time. There are many social trails & many cairns leading all over the slope. They all lead up so it doesn't matter which one you take. We stuck close to the ridge & reached the final saddle. From there it was less than 5 minutes to the summit. We were on top at 9:27am, so it took 3 hours & 7 minutes. As soon as we topped out, the clouds cleared & the sun came out to warm us. It was awesome. We had the summit to ourselves. This was the earliest we were on top of a peak this summer & the first time we had it to ourselves. And for once, we didn't have to rush off for threat of storms. We stretched out & snacked. The views of Elbert, Belford, Oxford, Missouri, & Huron we're so beautiful. Another couple came up after about 30 minutes & we had them take our picture. After about 10 minutes chatting with them we took off to leave them the peak to themselves before more people came up. Since it was early, we took our time coming down. We vacationed back down on the final saddle for about 20 minutes enjoying the sun & the view of Ellingwood Ridge. After that my husband humored me & let me stop to take tons of pictures of the marmots & columbines. The clouds were building quickly now. At the bottom of the switchbacks we were passing lots of groups still on their way up & it was about 11:30. The ones who asked about what we thought about the weather we cautioned ( I usually don't like to give my opinion to strangers unless they ask ). One group said they missed the turn off from the road onto the trail & hiked an extra couple of miles before they realized it. BUMMER! We finished around 12:30 right when the storms hit. I hope all those people were safe on the mountain & made good choices. Beautiful area & highly recommend it for newbees. |
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