La Garita Peak

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 

Route: Phoenix
Posted On: 7/18/2020, By: angry
Info: From Phoenix, dry to summit. Makes a nice loop. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 11/9/2019, By: supranihilest
Info: The road to Phoenix Park is icy but there are several places to pull off prior to that. The trail from the road across the creek isn't super obvious but there is an unsigned marker. Snow begins shortly after the creek crossing. Follow the trail on the north side of the creek past beaver dams until it forces you to cross on some willows. From this point until treeline the trail is entirely covered in snow. We did it in trail runners and the snow is loose and sugary so it's terrible for walking on. There's about 2-3 inches worth. From treeline things generally dry out snow-wise but without perfect route finding you'll be marching through marshy willows - arrive early enough and the entire thing will be frozen and you can just walk right through it. From there just walk up the steepening west slopes to the summit. The upper slopes are loose scree and talus with some short snow crossings but route finding is pretty easy since the slopes are so wide open.