From the Stewart Creek trailhead - return via Cochetopa Creek drainage
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Pristine Stewart Creek Valley
Orange Lichen on a block of granite
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San Luis is one of
Colorado's least climbed fourteeners. True to this rumor, I saw very few people on
this trip. I had planned on hiking this peak with a co-worker (Brian) but he wanted
to drive down much later. I enjoy having a couple of hours of daylight remaining
when I arrive just for relaxing or strolling around. So I left Denver around 1:30 pm
on Saturday and took the standard route down to that part of the state: Highway 285,
over Monarch Pass, and on towards Gunnison. The turnoff to the Stewart Creek
Trailhead is highway 114 a few miles before Gunnison. From there, you turn onto
about 25-30 miles of backcountry dirt roads to get to this shy mountain. Gerry
Roach's directions on how to arrive at the trailhead were technically accurate, but they
involved about 5 or 6 turns! There's actually a much much simpler way to get there.
At the turnoff onto Old Regency Road, keep going past the turnoff that Roach
mentions. After a couple of miles, you see a pair of lakes. Turn right past
the second lake and keep going until you see Stewart Creek.
I arrived at the Stewart Creek trailhead (by the difficult directions) at about 7:00pm. There was only one other car there but no one was in it. It's occupants were probably camped out somewhere along Stewart Creek. I had about an hour and a half of daylight left so I hiked down the trail a little way and found a good rock to cook dinner on. I took a few pictures here of myself, rocks (left), and the multitude of beaver ponds. |
| I was expecting Brian to
show up sometime around midnight. I set up my sleeping space in the back
of the Jeep. I read for about an hour and then turned off the light. I had a
dream that I woke up and the trailhead was packed with vehicles of all sorts and there was
a traffic jam along the road...I woke up and discovered that it was indeed a dream - the
other lone car was the only other vehicle around. Brian's car was nowhere to be
seen. I figured he simply just didn't feel like driving all the way down here. I started hiking rather late at 8:00 am. The first part of the hike was easy going. The trail is very level and well defined. I passed several beaver ponds along the way and even saw some deer. As I approached, they bounded across the meadow four legs at a time. I saw more wildlife on this trip than any other I'd been on. I saw the usual variety of picas and marmots, but also the deer, wild ducks, and tons of neat birds. |
Duck and duckling on a small tarn |
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The La Garita Wilderness (where San Luis Peak is located) is a really pretty area.
I suppose that there's so much wildlife because it's such an isolated area.
It was very green and had heavy evidence of glacier and volcanic activity in the
past. This picture (left) is of Organ Mountain. Notice the curving U-shaped glacial valley. I trudged along. Eventually, the trail steepened and I arrived above treeline. I passed a tent and some campers. The other car at the trailhead belonged to them. These were the first people I'd seen all day and they indicated there was no one in front of me. There certainly was no one behind me. Not for a long way, anyway. So I continued on. The head of the valley is dominated by a giant scree slope summit that is a sub-peak of San Luis. At this point, I headed for the saddle between Organ Mountain and San Luis. |
| At the saddle, I finally
had my first complete view of San Luis. It's a giant scree pile. The trail to
it, however, is packed pretty well and walking along it is not a problem at all. At
the top of the saddle, I found a pair of backpacks that had been stashed.
I guess
that these hikers must have come from the Cochetopa Creek drainage on the opposite side of Organ
Mountain. Brian and I had discussed making San Luis a loop hike by hiking out the Cochetopa Creek on the Colorado Trail. I hadn't decided if I would do this or not. It didn't look too much longer. As I hiked on, I indeed spotted two hikers on the summit of San Luis. I eventually passed them and they told me that they had hiked up Cochetopa Creek and were going to hike out via Stewart Creek. They had obviously left the trail early and hiked to the San Luis/Organ saddle, whereas the Colorado Trail takes you to the head of the Cochetopa drainage on the opposite side of San Luis. |
First View of San Luis |
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San Luis from the other side |
I made it to the summit
around 11:30. I had the whole summit to myself. I ate lunch and then
made some phone calls. I took several
pictures from the summit including one giant panorama that shows both Stewart
Creek and Cochetopa Creek. The weather was great although clouds were indeed beginning to move in. I decided that I would make this trip even more fun by hiking out via the Cochetopa Creek drainage. So, I began descending the other side of San Luis. On this side I met two girls who were hiking the peak from the Willow Creek trail. Here's a picture (left) of San Luis from the saddle on the Cochetopa Creek side. You can see that the clouds are getting thicker. I think I heard faint thunder only once. These seemed to simply be rain clouds. I began hiking down then came upon a hiker with a dog tieing his shoes. As I said "hello", he looked up and I realized it was Brian (below)! |
| Brian had indeed arrived
late and had missed the Stewart Creek trailhead in the dark. It is indeed hard to
see. He had camped at the Cochetopa Creek trailhead and had started hiking from
there at around 9:30 am. That's late BUT he wasn't even to the saddle yet and it was
around 1pm! I realized that it must have been a long way back to the
car because he's a strong hiker. It started sleeting on us at this point and Brian told me that he was going to hike up to the saddle and then see if he could make the summit. I told him that I was too tired to accompany him. So we parted and I headed out. The hike out was so incredibly long but absolutely spectacular. This is one of the prettiest valleys that I've seen in Colorado. This is certainly one of the loveliest, wildest parts of the state that I've been in to date. The trail was very wet and I had to cross several streams. At one point, the a spring bubbled out of the middle of the trail! I stopped here to fill up my water supply. Later on, I passed a nice cliffy area with a large water fall. After that were large long meadows full of deer. The valley was slowly swinging it's way north but it seemed like it just wouldn't end. Finally, after a full 16 miles round trip, it did. After I stretched, I turned the car on and I noticed Brian driving up. He'd hiked out very fast. I wasn't moving too fast because my left ankle was sore and my right ankle bone was bruised. Good timing though. We hung out at the trailhead and drank 14er beer for about 30 minutes until about 5:15pm. We then headed back to Denver. This was another successful, very enjoyable, 14er hike. |
Cochetopa Creek Valley |
