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| La Plata - Southwest Ridge |
After two weekends of subpar weather, today was glorious. Outstanding vistas.
Hiking Mike‘s route description is accurate in detail. Find it at this URL.
http://14ers.com/routeprt.php?route=lapl2&peak=La%20Plata%20Peak
Roach‘s directions are so cursory as to be worthless.
Iceman and womanhiker both posted excellent reports on the route in July 2007. http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripmain.php
My observations:
There were several SUVs and pickup trucks at the 4WD trailhead parking. Someone drove an Outback up there. It‘s all about wheel placement.
The mud in the willow meadow is a nuisance, but not a show stopper.
The climb after the meadow up to the saddle is steep. I did not appreciate how steep it was until the descent. Lots of loose gravel made firm footing a challenge on the way down.
The trail up the southwest ridge is ambiguous. I followed and lost the cairns on that part of the route several times while climbing. Bypassing the next to the last false summit on the ridge is not a big deal. I hiked over the top without ill effect.
Ascent: 2:45 at a steady pace.
Descent: 2:20 at a leisurely pace.
Total time: 5:20.
Bottom line: Nice hike that I will do again.
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