6/16/2025 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 6/16/2025, By: rescuemonkey Info: The trail below tree line is snow free. Small patches of snow above tree line but easily avoidable. Lots of downed trees. Moose around the beaver ponds. |
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5/25/2025 Route: South Slopes via Phoenix Park Posted On: 5/25/2025, By: backcountrybrodes Info: Much different story from Half yesterday, took snowshoes but never put them on and stashed them a little below tree line. Snow up high was very supportive! Went to the top of the 7ft tall summit cairn to tag the true summit. Lots of beaver ponds (if you’re imagining a lot of ponds you’re not thinking of enough of them) that made water crossing tricky down low, but as long as you follow the same valley up you’ll be fine. Somehow only got wet at the end! Trail was on and off the whole day. Took me 6:03 - 3:40 up and 2:23 down. La Garitas are looking super dry for May. |
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6/13/2024 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 6/15/2024, By: PikaSteve Info: Summer conditions--completely dry below and above treeline with some flowers blooming. Great early season hike starting from East Willow Creek 2WD Trailhead on the FS502 road. Thanks cloudkicker and kyrawhitworth for sharing your recent conditions reports and thanks WildWanderer for a comprehensive 2019 trip report. The beaver ponds were amazing to see and much bigger than in 2019. The two sets of ponds provided the only significant difficulties on the long mostly Class 1 route: 1) Main Creek Ponds just after leaving the 4WD road for trail 787: I slipped and fell on my backside at first step into water/muck (my first time using Crocs for stream crossing), then underestimated the depth vs my 32" inseam. On return, I did a better job of using poles to choose and measure the depth of each foot placement and kept my shorts dry. I should have stashed my Crocs after this crossing. 2) Side Creek Ponds just after turning to head east: the route doesn't cross the side creek until upstream of the ponds, but the "Beave-alanche" area of downed trees was challenging to navigate--can go high for less log stacks or stay low and climb over jumbled logs near edge of ponds. Three minor creek crossings above the beaver ponds were all easy to step or rock-hop over while keeping boots dry. Trail is not too hard to follow through the woods after crossing over to the south side of the side creek just below 10,600'. Lots of deadfall on the trail: most can be stepped over but a few require a detour--if trail is lost, use suprahilist gpx to get back on track. Lots of moose prints and pellets on the trail, but no moose encounter today. Hiked above impressive cliffs just after treeline, then angled up to saddle and along ridge to summit, mostly on grass with just a bit of talus mixed in. |
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6/8/2024 Route: Phoenix Park TH Posted On: 6/8/2024, By: kyrawhitworth Info: Thank you cloudkicker for the accurate TH infovery helpful. Started from the 502 1A sign. Totally bone dry at this point. We followed the supra gpx up and took the climb13ers route down over La Garita. The trail on that side is very hit or miss so having a gpx was helpful here; theres some recent beaver fall, avy debris, and deadfall on this descent FYI. We wasted time trying to find a dry way across the beaver ponds at the start, better to just send it. We saw a moose, a beaver who splashed at us twice, and multiple elk herds up high so a great day for wildlife sightings! |
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6/8/2024 Route: South Ridge/Slopes Posted On: 6/10/2024, By: Thevirtualsherpa Info: Echoing previous report with a few more details. Drive: Once proper 4x4 road starts, the first section is the toughest and then the road significantly eases for a few miles. Once you hit melt in road, deeper/more challenging road comes. I could have taken stock Tacoma much farther but was happy enough at camp spot. Camping: After 4x4 road split there are two great spots on left. Farther down road, maybe 3-4 other good spots as well. For how remote this is, surprising at lack of good camping. Hike: 4x4 road until beaver damn crossing, at least Spring/Early Summer your feet will get very wet. After, I would not recommend straight up slopes but rather stick to valley/old stock trail and then work up the slopes to your left. Cluster F either way, but just much better ground to travel up. Have a GPX line to follow for this one. Once above treeline, very very straightforward. Summer conditions throughout. Will have full write-up/video soon. |
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6/1/2024 Route: Phoenix Park to Phoenix & La Garita Peaks Posted On: 6/1/2024, By: cloudkicker Info: Pretty much summer conditions. I wore trail runners, brought spikes, did not use. Dry down low. The patchy snow that remains on the upper mountain is of low or no consequence. Used the supra gpx and did not have much issues with route finding past the beaver dams up to treeline. PVC register was soggy and unusable. Take the EASY DIRT ROAD to the 2WD TH. Its the lower 502 road that follows east Willow Creek (black BACHELOR LOOP sign). The correct road is NOT RECOGNIZED AS A ROAD ON GOOGLE MAPS. (Clear as day on any other trail map!) Any other way to the trailhead will be more trouble than its worth, especially since 503 is currently closed for excavation work. If you reach the excavation closure turn around and cross the bridge. It is really that easy. |
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9/4/2023 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 9/5/2023, By: Ssgustafson Info: After a frustrating search for a way through the expansive beaver ponds to access the standard South Slopes route, we bailed to a route documented by Beth Lakin on Peakbagger via the West Ridge. We drove up to near the end of the 4WD road and parked at just over 10,400' (37.92573, -106.89917), right before a short flooded section of road - courtesy of the the same industrious beavers! The route begins shortly up the flooded, but drivable, road at 10,440' (37.92694, -106.89791) near an abandoned log cabin where the road is blocked. The initial climb is a steep bushwack gaining about 2000' through Aspen and Pine forests culminating in a flat grassy section between 12,400' and 12,600'. There is no discernable trail except in a short section near 12000' elevation. After crossing the flat section, we proceeded straight up a grueling rock hop to the ridgeline at over 13,800' and just below the summit. Overall, the route measured approx 4.8 miles RT and gained just over 3400'. I posted our GPS track under the Climbing tab for anyone that is interested. |
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9/2/2023 Route: 502-A road Posted On: 9/5/2023, By: jbealer Info: we were able to park 5 cars at the start of the 4wd trail, we did have a lot of water crossings after the road, that is the only time we really had to struggle for a route. once we got past the 1st water crossings into the woods there is a good trail with plenty of cairns in the woods, honestly this was one of the best marked 13ers i have been on. the beavers have done some work in the woods where Wild mentions avy, i really think its the beavers work there, you just go up the hill some and come back down. A partner did lose there phone coming back so when you hit the last hill down heading back into the woods and then down the trial, keep any eye out for it please. |
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7/17/2023 Route: South approach Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: Peak200 Info: Bring your gps and route finding skills on this one lol; hard to find the road to start, Once you hike in 4wd drive road about 1.6 miles you go right at the trailhead 787 sign: you will get wet here cause the beavers have done their work and the creek is high; there is somewhat Of a trail for 1/2 of a mile: after that you have to bushwack for the next two miles through heavy trees and then maybe find the trail at treeline: Back to the 1950's on this one; routefinding is non existent because there is no trail: its very overgrown. See wild wanderers trip report which is very good. Beautiful area: did not see a soul. 10. 5 hours ; 4675 ft climbed ; 12.5 miles Centennial peak number 79 ; a tough one |
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7/1/2023 Route: From 502 rd Posted On: 7/1/2023, By: SionaRW35 Info: Summer conditions. Creek crossing of East Willow Creek is possible on a log downstream about 100 yds from the trail. La Garita Peak also dry. |
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7/1/2023 Route: Willow Creek Posted On: 7/5/2023, By: kwhit24 Info: We parked/camped a few hundred feet up from where the 4wd road starts. I would want at least an AWD vehicle to even get to the 4wd road. There are some rough areas and loose steep gravel road switchbacks. In the morning we drove the rest of the 1.1 miles in my Ranger. The road was very rough but I only touched my skid plates for a brief second once. Crossing the creek was probably the most difficult part of the day. We crossed in the morning over one of the dams and picked of way through. Coming back we crossed almost directly between the posts south of the trail. Everything else was dry but there is some trail navigating to do from downed trees. Lot's of trees have also been cut down by beavers (11.31 mi; 4,103' gain; 6:36:02 time) Start at TH 6:35am; Phoenix Pk 9:40am; La Garita 11:00am; Back to TH 1:10pm |
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6/11/2022 Route: Phoenix Park Posted On: 6/11/2022, By: gcook33 Info: Gorgeous day and a very nice route, didn't see a soul. Summer conditions. 11.9 mi and 4300'. Started from the 2wd TH, about 2ish miles in and near treeline the trail peters out in spots but not too bad. COTrex has helped me on numerous peaks including this one in helping re-locate trails, landmarks, contours, etc. |
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6/4/2022 Route: South Slopes (ish) Posted On: 6/6/2022, By: LetsGoMets Info: 502.1A is rough. It's 1.6 miles to the 787 trail crossing where there is a marsh you need to cross. FYI - ran into a nest of active snakes in the area. Trail is pretty easy to follow up to a creek crossing past the beaver activity where we incorrectly stayed on the La Garita Stock Driveway Trail. After being on this trail for 1 mile plus in the dark we realized the mistake and bushwacked N/NE through fairly open forest back to the Phoenix South Slopes. Summer conditions throughout. |
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5/29/2022 Route: South Slopes Posted On: 5/30/2022, By: Chicago Transplant Info: Standard route from Creede (Phoenix Park) is completely snow free. Initial creek crossing a bit flooded and muddy. Some sections of trail had a lot of downed trees but the trail is pretty easy to follow except around the creek crossings. Hiked the 4WD road which was mostly dry, some avoidable water running over it near the bottom of the first hill and there is a footbridge for crossing Whited Creek. Could drive it in a capable 4WD vehicle but I wouldn't take an AWD (even with clearance) as the first hill is pretty steep and rocky. |
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5/25/2022 Route: Eddysville TH Posted On: 5/27/2022, By: nickm Info: I summited 13402, Phoenix, and 13015 Wednesday. I started at the Eddysville TH and took the CDT to the Machin Trail to gain the ridge. I did a ridge loop of the 3 peaks. I encountered no snow gaining the ridge, snow on the ridge in places was mainly from the last storm there and nothing of consequence. No snow on decent. I wore gaiters and used no traction. Only a few places in between talus did I posthole to maybe my knee. Over all The entire San Luis group is very dry. Those looking for fairly snow free peaks might want to look at this area./Users/nickmonitello/Desktop/thumbnail-1.jpeg/Users/nickmonitello/Des/Users/nickmonitello/Desktop/thumbnail-3.jpegktop/thumbnail-2.jpeg/Users/nickmonitello/Desktop/thumbnail.jpeg |
