La Garita Peak & "Phoenix Peak"

*Warning: I'm adding photos of the deer carcass to end of this report. If that's something you don't want to see, skip the end.

Getting to the trailhead: I want to reiterate as other helpful users have mentioned, Google Maps does not know road 503 exists. I recommend navigating to the Bachelor Loop Interpretive Site in Creede, CO. From here, take a right across a bridge. It's ~4mi to the high clearance 2WD trailhead (37.90413, -106.91671). I made it here in a RAV4 and the last 0.25mi is the roughest. Beyond this, it's a true 4x4 road with large obstacles. It's a least a 5/6 on the 14ers TH difficulty scale.

From the 2WD trailhead, you'll follow a rough road for ~1.5mi until you reach the 787 trail. Previous reports and GPX lines would have you cross this marshy area. I scouted it out and I would not recommend this. Instead, once on the 787 trail angle to your right (south) where you'll notice another small trail marker. Follow the hillside until you reach a large boulder embedded in the hill. I found 2 possible areas to cross, one on each side of the boulder. On my ascent, I crossed on the near side where you'll have to cross tall vegetation. On the far side of the boulder, it's even easier and I'd recommend crossing there where there are plenty of rocks to aide in a narrow creek crossing.

After you cross the creek, head southeast through a sparse forest until you hit the 787 trail again. I've marked the exit with 2 long branches and a small cairn. From here, the social trail will lead you to an old wooden sign, hang a right here. When your get back near the creek, stay close to it. I made the mistake of following a social trail that gained in elevation on my left hand side only to come back down. It looked like a cairn was previously built where you cross the river, so I restacked those rocks to make it more obvious.

As you lose the sound of the creek, the trail will lead you above treeline. At 4.14mi, I came across a large deer carcass. The low creek crossing is immediately after this. If you're adding La Garita you'll reach a cairn where you'll angle left. Don't go too far left where the cliff drops into a valley. Angle right up a grassy slope and head to the top of it.

Once you reach the top, grassy rolling hills will greet you. Eventually you'll have to cross a short section of willows. They're low and easy to navigate through but it can be a bit marshy. I stayed dry by sticking to the larger tufts of grass. Instead of going straight through the next section of willows, I hooked left and skirted the hillside.

If you timed it like me, enjoy some head down hiking directly into the sun. From 13250 to the saddle you'll transition to well settled talus. I eventually hit the saddle at 13500ft. From here it was 0.2mi and 200ft to the summit of La Garita. I did not see a register at the summit marker or the windbreak. It took me 4hr 15min to the summit.

Enjoy the well behaved talus up to the summit of Phoenix where a massive cairn is. There is a register with one sheet of paper and free space is running low. It took me an hour and 5min to get to Phoenix from the saddle.

From the Phoenix summit, I decided to scout the GPX line going up Phoenix (red line), from climb13ers, as my descent. It has you drop into a small basin with trees and willows. From above, it seemed like a no brainer to contour the hill on my left (blue line) and retrace my steps over the gentle rolling hill. But I figured I'd scout this out anyway. While there is a social trail leading through here, you'll have to descend a steep loose section. And while the social trail avoids any serious bushwacking, there is some vegetation to navigate around. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it. I also saw two moose in the willows, so I booked it through this section to avoid a confrontation in a tight area.

From the Phoenix summit back to the car took 2hr 40min.

Trail Stats: 14.4mi, 4967ft. 8hr 27min.

GPX: I've manually recreated my route to eliminate the scouting near the marshy area and my recommended descent from Phoenix that avoids dropping into the small basin.

*Warning: Deer carcass directly on trail