San Luis Peak climbing Trip Report with Photos by Rex

August 31st - Septemeber 1st, 2003

After getting back to the trailhead from our Uncompahgre Peak climb at 10 a.m., we decided to drive to Gunnison and kill some time. We took a ride to Crested Butte and then played a round of miniature golf in Gunnison, which I kicked Amy's butt by 11 strokes, wooohooo. We bought a book of Colorado topo maps because the guide book noted the Stewart Creek Trailhead can be hard to find and its useful to have a map of the forest service roads. We found Roach's directions pretty good and didn't need to use the forest service map at all. Approaching from the Gunnison side, you have about 31 miles of dirt road once you leave highway 114, so it takes a little time to get to the trailhead. We arrived at 5 p.m. and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We were half tempted to take off for the summit and try to watch the sunset from the top. Not wanting to push my knee too hard and since we already climbed a 14er today, I decided it would be better to rest and get an early start on San Luis Peak tomorrow.

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Since your web browser does not support JavaScript, here is a non-JavaScript version of the trip report. NOTE: the slideshow above will not work with JavaScript disabled.September 1st, 2003The alarm sounded at 3:00 a.m. and it was very cold inside the 4runner. We didn't want to get out of our sleeping bags but eventually found the motivation to east breakfast and begin hiking at 3:45 a.m. The first mile or so is completely flat and it was hard to get warmed up since the hike was so easy. The photo below was taken on the return trip but shows the Stewart Creek Valley. Basically the route just heads up the valley towards the peak in the center of the photo.

About 30 minutes into the hike we were passing next to a pond when something jumped in the water and made a very large splash. This scared us half to death and we tried to see what had jumped in the water. We couldn't see anything or hear something swimming in the water, so we figured it must have been a beaver that dived underwater. After this incident the forest seemed so much darker and went on forever. I banged my trekking poles together periodically to ward off any other creatures of the night. The book doesn't mention the fact that you cross Stewart Creek twice before you eventually get above treeline. The photo below shows the route from treeline up to the saddle between San Luis and Organ Mountain at 13,000 feet.

We made it up to the saddle in a very short time and the skies were beginning to lighten. We caught San Luis Peak basking in the alpenglow as we made our way up the saddle. San Luis has a reddish tint to it and reminded of Redcloud Peak.

The photo below shows the remaing route to the summit, we were a little disappointed because we thought the peak on the right was San Luis.

The trail proceeds just under the ridge and crosses over to the backside as you near the summit. From this point we were in the bitter cold wind and hurried to the summit.

We made it to the summit at 7:15 a.m. and had the views of the San Juans all to ourselves again. It had taken us about 3.5 hours to make it to the summit from the trailhead. I propped my camera up on a rock to get a summit photo but my batteries were low due to the cold and my camera would die right before it would take the photo. I had to resort to sticking the battery in my armpit for a couple minutes to warm up and was able to get a couple summit photos.

We hunkered down behind the wind break and enjoy a Snickers bar while taking in the views. We got cold pretty quickly so we didn't stay long on the summit. The descent down was rather uneventful and we didn't pass anybody until back towards treeline. We enjoyed the forest much more in the daylight and made it back to the trailhead at 10:15 a.m. bringing our total hiking time to 6.5 hours. This was my 43rd 14er and our 19th of the summer, bringing Amy's total to 19. I only have 2 left in the San Juans, Mt. Wilson and El Diente, but the range is probably my favorite in Colorado and I imagine I will return to it frequently.

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