Before moving to Colorado my birthday tradition was sitting down with a friend or two to devour a watermelon. Now the tradition is to climb a peak.
I chose San Luis Peak because it is within an hour's drive, it's not exposed, and it was accessible for someone like Nathan who has been out of the routine.
Total mileage out and back: 13 miles.
Highest elevation: 14,014 feet.
The trailhead, north of Creede:
Making our way up to the 12,500 ft saddle:
These little ones waddled with us for a bit:
At the 12,500 ft saddle. A small descent is followed by the long walk-up approach:
We have to descend to the right, follow the along the inside as the mountains take the trail curving left, then pop over the grassy saddle in the distant left:
Heading up to the grassy pass:
Columbine, the state flower:
Over the grassy pass the trail makes a sharp right and curves on the inside of more ridges with a handful of snowy passes. I fell through to my thigh a few times, but that's as few as it got:
Looking back as we start up the side of San Luis Peak proper:
Lots of false top outs. The summit is back there somewhere:
Nathan didn't like that I snuck one of his face:
Grass gives way to scree:
Scree gives way to grass and then more scree. The rock bulges are cairns, the form of trail markings used out west:
The summit! And my GPS was only off by five feet:
Birthday accomplished:
