Trinchera Peak

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 6/29/2025, By: pbradley14er
Info: Essentially summer conditions. There are barriers on the Forest Service Road just above the parking area near Blue Lakes Campground. There were a few avoidable snow patches on the road and then near the summit of Trinchera. I did a ridge run to Cuatro and again, what little snow was present was avoidable. The winds were fierce that day and surprise showers started about 1 PM near Trinchera. Fortunately, there was a social trail at about 13K that took me around the summit. 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 5/19/2025, By: Istoodupthere
Info: Slept at the TH which is at 10,600. Furthest you can drive. Any type of car can get there with a little care the last couple hundred yards. Room for maybe 5 cars. Cold day made for great snow conditions. Left the ATV trail at 11,900. Crampons on at 12,100. Headed up the couloir that faces east. Then up the E face to the summit. Route is easy to moderate snow steepness. The last bit below the small cornice is pretty steep. Perfect conditions going up. Perfect plunge stepping down to treeline. Then a postholing extravaganza. Light snow most of the day. Mostly poor visibility above treeline. Got about an inch of snow the night before and another inch as I was descending. This was my redemption as Trinchera denied me in November due to poor snow near the summit. Had the mountain to myself. Wind died down as I was nearing summit thankfully 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 11/3/2024, By: Istoodupthere
Info: Was determined to summit something before the heavy snow rolled in. NOAA snow depth map showed very little snow in the southern sangres. I knew that was probably wrong based on recent reports but tried Trinchera anyway. Amazing how many trees needed to be cleared in order to make the atv trail. Constant snow on trail starting at 11,000 ft. Walked up the atv packed/icy trail up until the snow got too deep. Passed a couple hunters who didnt seem pleased I was there. A boot pack from here to where you leave road. About a foot of snow with drifts a couple feet deep. Some postholing higher up and after leaving road. Continuous light snow to this point and 30 mph winds above treeline where it was close to white out conditions. Never could see the peak. Navigating by gpx. Getting to 13,100 ft wasnt too bad over wind blown tundra and mostly consolidated snow. Bailed at 13,200. Near white out, still couldnt see summit. The final steep section had bullet proof snow, postholing, 2 inch slab with powder underneath, and the exposed rocks were all ringed with ice. Snow was loading in places and from the little I could see, the area of the face with no exposed rocks seemed like a slab avalanche waiting to happen. Atv tracks were extremely icy going down. Left the trailhead at 3pm before the heavier snow arrived. 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 8/28/2024, By: painless4u2
Info: Did a solo hike up to the summit today. The 4WD road is closed to all but ATVs, dirt bikes and foot traffic, as mentioned. However, I did not see any obstacles that were 50" clearance, as stated by the Forest Service, other than the barrier at the parking area blocking the road. A Jeep Wrangler-type vehicle would have no issue going up, if able to cross the barrier. You will see a lot of destroyed forest from the windstorm a few years ago, very sad. The hike is great, however, with no issues. 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 8/25/2024, By: HikerDan75
Info: As noted previously this route is open. Summited today with zero issues through the previously tree covered road. Trail above not bad after a couple years without foot traffic. 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 8/3/2024, By: greenschist
Info: The Forest Service has reopened Road 436 to vehicles under 50 inches in width for now. They're aiming for full-size vehicle access in 2025. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1198048.pdf From FB page for US Forest Service - PSICC: San Carlos Ranger District announces vehicle width restrictions have been implemented for public safety on Forest Service Road 436, also known as Trinchera Road, near Cuchara, Colorado. The use of the road will be temporality limited to vehicles 50 inches in width or less. Work is planned for 2025 to fully clear the road and provide for full-size vehicle traffic again. Public safety is always a top priority. Currently, the opening in the roadway is not wide enough to allow for the safe travel of full-sized vehicles, nor are there any safe turnout spots for two-way traffic, said San Carlos District Ranger Destiny Chapman. This is a popular route, and we are working diligently to fully reopen the route. The amount of work is extensive and will take some time to complete. A significant blowdown event in spring 2022 made this route impassable. The road is now passable, but the corridor is very narrow, requiring the vehicle width restriction through Forest Order 02-12-03-24-25 which can be read here https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1198048.pdf For more information, contact the San Carlos Ranger District at 3028 East Main Street, Canon City, CO 81212, 719-269-8500. 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 6/5/2024, By: Dan Kearney
Info: Not much has changed from Colospgs's report back in October. The trail is still completely covered by deadfall to the point where you are walking on trees more than ground. The road isn't impossible to follow, but it took me over an hour to go less than half a mile, at which point I turned to go hike W. Spanish Peak instead. If you are SUPER motivated, you might be able to do it, but definitely bring pants. Or just approach from Mt. Maxwell. 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 10/15/2023, By: denvermikey
Info: Did not do route but from Cuatro the entire south slopes looked 100% clear and dry. Includes Leaning Peaks. 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 10/12/2023, By: colospgs
Info: Forest road 436 is currently impassable due to downed trees. See previous condition reports. The local forest service guy told me it would probably be a couple of years before they can clear the road. He told me the windstorm took out about one thousand acres of forest and two campgrounds. In 2024 or even in 2025, call the La Veta forest service office at 719-742-3681 for conditions. 

Route: Ridge run from Maxwell
Posted On: 6/25/2023, By: IHikeLikeAGirl
Info: "Intended" to run the ridge from Maxwell to Trinchera, descend the standard route, take Rd 436 to the North Fork Trail, and end at Purgatoire Campground. Summer conditions all the way to Trinchera, but the descent off Trinchera wasn't quite as simple as I would have liked. Could not descend the standard route due to a lengthy cornice (mentioned by HikerGuy's post). Descended the North ridge (dry, C2/C3 mostly solid/some loose rock) to Road 436. At ~11,650 there's a large "blow down" section. Bushwacked a short ways south to get around the blow down, then east to find the North Fork trail. We meandered through deep snow (2-5' deep drifts), soggy ground, and deadfall. Wasn't terrible and we made decent time. At ~11,400 the snow had eased, but the ground was saturated. Met up with the North Fork trail at 11,300. Dry the rest of the way. 

Route: Traverse from Maxwell
Posted On: 5/31/2023, By: HikerGuy
Info: Ridge from Maxwell to Trinchera is dry, took 2h 34m. For the descent, I wanted no business with the northeast ridge (deadfall/snow). I had intended to start off the top towards the standard descent, but there was a huge amount of snow on the east side of the summit and I sank to my waist. So, I instead found a tiny break in the cornice on the southeast side and scrambled down some rocks to snow on the upper southeast slope. I heel-plunged down snow on the upper southeast slope and then traversed southeast across the basin which was largely dry. There were a couple of snowfields to cross after exiting the basin and approaching tree line. Everything was still supportive at 11am. From there I followed elk trails back down to Purgatoire Creek. It was mostly dry. Crossing the creek consisted of a hop. The trail back down to the Purgatoire Campground was in good shape, a few tracked out snow banks early on. The trail was a bit wet with runoff. Total loop was 13.45 miles and 5,618 feet. Total traveling time was 7h 38m. 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 5/29/2023, By: CarpeDM
Info: Same as the last update. There is no evidence whatsoever that any work has been done to clear the debris. Don't expect to climb this from Blue Lake for quite a while. 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 6/12/2022, By: HikerDan75
Info: Just a heads up for anyone planning to do Trinchera, the spring windstorms have done serious damage to this route. The road is closed at Blue lake which is a half mile below the official trailhead. You can walk up but the road/trail is completely impassable from about a hundred yards up from the trailhead. It's going to take a long time to clear the road. About 80% of the trees are down for several sq miles. 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 7/4/2021, By: dolfh
Info: The Northeast Slopes route is completely dry. Many ATVers on the road this morning. 

Route: Northeast Slopes
Posted On: 6/25/2021, By: angry
Info: Trinchera > Leaning North > Leaning South. Summer conditions.