San Luis Pk – East Slopes

Date: August 4, 2003
Elevation: 14,014′
Rank: 51st
Route: East Slopes, Grade II, Class 1, 12.0 miles, 3600ft vert.
GPS: N 37° 59.216′ W 106° 55.85′
Team: Matt Esser (Toid), Mark Jaeger (Gugals)

Pre-climb: If you had five days to go climb anywhere in Colorado you wanted, where would you go? I thought about this proposition for two weeks, then decided upon the majestic San Juan Mountains. Definitely the least climbed range of the 14ers, with San Luis being quite possibly the least climbed of all 14ers, the San Juans stand in direct contrast to the over-populated Front Range peaks. It was time to go and spend five days discovering what some of the most rugged, pristine land left in Colorado was all about.

Climb: After church on a rainy Sunday afternoon, when all the traffic on I-70 was headed back towards Denver, Gugals and I were headed against the grain and out towards the San Juan Range. Gugals was convinced he would solve the Rubik’s Cube by the time we arrived at Stewart Creek Trailhead for San Luis. Apparently though, he didn’t know the trick that I talk about on my website to solve it within a matter of two minutes. He proceeded to twist and turn the cube the entire way, never being able to even get one side solved. The rain also never gave up as it continued to come down as we continued to drive through Breckenridge and over Hoosier Pass and then down south and eventually east on US 50. However, as soon as we turned off on 114, we could instantly tell we were in another world. There were no paved roads. The only people who live in this area are farmers and hunters. And after going slowly for over 30 miles on dirt roads, we arrived what felt like the middle of nowhere: the La Garita Wilderness.

There was a campsite right at the empty trailhead. I pitched my Mountain Hardwear Skyview tent there while Gugals started a small fire. We heated up some water for the first night of our Backpacker’s Pantry/Mountain House/Alpine Aire preserved food stash. I went to bed rather early. Gugals stayed up and made sure the fire was out, but then out of nowhere an elk decided to come up the hill from the river to investigate what was going on at our campsite. Quickly, Gugals ran into the tent not knowing what it was. I remained unconscious in my warm sleeping bag. The following morning we were roused from our slumber up by the bugling of hundreds of elks. What a sound! I think it might be near mating season. Regardless of the purpose, the sound was still a rare treat.

We hit the trail at 7:30am and were making great time across the flat introduction as it passes by endless beaver dams. I even saw a snake on the trail! What are snakes doing up here!? It scared me because I almost stepped on it as I was hiking quite fast and not really paying attention to where my feet were going and admiring the scenery. Soon enough we crossed the creek a couple times and were finally to the section that heads up towards the saddle. It gets a little steeper here, but nothing bad at all. It required a few more rest stops, but that was fine. Every time we stopped we could look out at what surrounded us and see new wildlife roaming around. There would be a herd of deer down in the valley, followed by some elk near the river. Soon there would be a buck or two up on the ridge snacking just above a stash of snow. It was very beautiful to see wildlife as abundant as this.

After we made it to the saddle, we realized San Luis was actually hiding *behind* the peak we had been staring at the past hour. The ridge looked fairly good as it curved around the steep talus up towards the summit. I went on ahead to check it out. As I circled around towards the summit, we noticed something that we hadn’t seen all day…other people! There were three hikers that had come up the other side of San Luis that made the summit a mere 10 minutes before we did! I greeted them and informed them of the wonderful trail that we took. They said they didn’t like how long it was. Pfffft, how long it was? It was only 12 miles round-trip! I hardly noticed it as it took us under 4 hours to get to the summit. With all the wildlife and scenery it was like walking in a wonderland.

We gladly signed the register and quickly noticed that on most days only one party, or maybe two signed in. That’s not very many! Peaks could be seen in every direction…the Sangre de Cristos were to our east, and the rest of the San Juans were to our west. Stewart Peak rised in the north and to our south looked like hundreds of rarely climbed mountains. Truly a great place to be.

Gugals got out his video camera so that his friends back in Arkansas and Oklahoma could see him at 14,014ft above sea-level. After filming and snacking on top, we decided it would be best to start heading back towards our car. Which by the way, we couldn’t even see from the summit!

The descent was more of the same greatness that we experienced on our way up. I was hoping to see a moose but didn’t get the honor of seeing such an animal in the wild. Maybe someday I will.

Arriving back at the car, I quickly took off my shoes and made way down to the creek to soak my feet in the cold water. This felt so good. I have to thank Gugals for sharing with me this ritual of his after hiking. It certainly helps cut down on swelling. After soaking our feet, and getting some snacks, we began to make our way out the other side of La Garita Wilderness and head directly on back roads to Lake City instead of going back out the way we came in and going around and through Gunnison. This worked out really well!

As we were leaving, I got a picture of the reclusive San Luis Peak that seems to hide behind her surroundings. The roads we took both into and out of San Luis could be done with a two-wheel drive vehicle. It’s on to Silver Creek, which means Redcloud and Sunshine!

Drive: 7h
Ascent: 3.75h
Summit: 45 min
Descent: 2.5h
Drive: 3h
Total: 7h