This route is not recommended for most. Ice axes are a nicely added tool here given the steepness and rocks. South of Leadville, off of Independence Pass. Today You must walk the road to access the trail (left side of road). Dispersed backcountry camping is permitted in the, Camping is prohibited within 100' of any trail, lake or stream. West southwest wind 25 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 45 mph. The trail climbs 655' in just .7 miles into the wide, U-shaped upper valley (1.5 miles : 11,010'). Down below was the roaring, orange colored, arsenic laden water of South Fork Lake Creek. While resting on the ridge, to other hikers caught up with us - the only others we'd seen on the mountain so far. It was now 7:00am. In the winter La Plata Canyon Road is often “groomed” for a few miles, providing an in-town area for out-and-back fat biking, cross country skiing and snowshoeing. We continued on the gentle trail through the woods, eventually crossing another stream with a small log bridge. Will not show on comments list. Park only in designated spaces at the trailhead and where permitted on the highway shoulder. La Plata Peak Trailhead is located on Highway 82, 14 miles west of the Highway 82 - Highway 24 junction in Twin Lakes (28.1 miles east of Original Street in downtown Aspen). You’ll start to see dispersed camping sites on your left about 4 miles in after passing a large ranch. This route goes right up the north face of La Plata via the main couloir. We spotted about a dozen tents scattered throughout this area, mostly on the far side of the stream in the forest - it seemed like a good place to camp and take an early morning on the summit (since the level ground available below at the trailhead is private land). If you scroll down to the bottom of this article in the images section, there is a trail map highlighting all of the different route options. Class: Class 2 Hike Near the top of La Plata Canyon Road, the road intersects Columbus Basin Road/trail to the right. Helmets are recommended on this route due to loose rocks. We highly recommend you check out the mountain forecast for this region the morning of your hike. We came to a small snow field at 13,700 ft 10:40am, and decided it offered a much more enjoyable descent, so we glissaded down it to lose about 100 ft in altitude (much to the amusement of some of the hikers still ascending the ridge). Located 43 miles north-northeast of Gunnison Colorado. Tuesday Unfortunately, this meant that we had just enough time on the summit to snap a few photos and turn around to try to stay ahead of the weather. See winter hiking information below. My name is Brian Davis. With some careful route finding (and a few wrong turns here and there), we managed to stay on the solid climbers trail up and around the buttress. The clouds were still building overhead, and we were anxious to get back to treeline, so we continued our push without breaks to get down. Tonight We stopped for a minute or two just to appreciate the power of this creek below shooting through the narrow rock canyon. Seasonal and location-specific restrictions may also apply. Trail Photos This site has a collection of photos, trip reports, and other write-ups that I wanted to share with the world. Height – 14,336 feet (4,369.6 m) This is a common year round hike. Trail Map In summer, hikers will hike along the La Plata Basin ascending, before heavy switchbacks have hikers rise to the ridge. We resumed hiking towards the large buttress on the ridge. Thursday Distance –9.6 miles round trip (15.45 km) As with all CO 14ers, experience and extreme caution is necessary in the winter. Leadville Ranger District 810 Front Street Leadville, CO 80461 719.486.0749, Pike and San Isabel National Forest 2840 Kachina Drive Pueblo, CO 81008 719.553.1400. This is a relatively small lot that is open year round. 8.6 miles (add .6 roundtrip from parking lot to TH), 10,170' - 14,361' (14,361' max elevation on summit), +4,191' net elevation gain (+4,509' total roundtrip elevation gain), N39 03.843 W106 30.235 — 0.0 miles : La Plata Trailhead on SFLC Road, N39 03.828 W106 29.757 — .55 miles : Cross Creek on log bridge, N39 03.615 W106 29.772 — .8 miles : Begin steep-step climb, N39 03.450 W106 29.698 — 1.0 miles : Steep climb in narrow gulch, N39 03.080 W106 29.539 — 1.5 miles : Trail levels in open upper valley, N39 02.820 W106 29.368 — 1.87 miles : Wilderness Boundary sign, N39 02.664 W106 29.142 — 2.15 miles : Clear treeline on steep climb up chute, N39 02.506 W106 29.050 — 2.4 miles : Cross 12,000', N39 02.411 W106 29.013 — 2.6 miles : Trail straightens across flank, N39 02.336 W106 28.784 — 3.0 miles : Gain ridge and briefly moderate, N39 02.171 W106 28.785 — 3.25 miles : Cross 13,000', N39 02.070 W106 28.628 — 3.51 miles : Small grassy saddle with views over basin, N39 01.958 W106 28.608 — 3.7 miles : Steep route through talus, N39 01.838 W106 28.568 — 3.95 miles : Cross 14,000', N39 01.760 W106 28.436 — 4.2 miles : Level across false summit, N39 01.766 W106 28.378 — 4.25 miles : La Plata Peak (14,361'), Get an early start to avoid afternoon thunderstorms. Once below the ridge, we could see the rain slowly creeping down Independence Pass, so we donned our rain gear and continued heading down the trail. West wind 20 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph. At times, the trail is a narrow ledge along an inclined valley wall, making for some awkward footing once the rocks and tree roots become wet from rain; all the while you can hear the roaring stream as it drops quickly down in the valley floor below. It's the 5th highest peak in Colorado, distinguished by a broad west flank, bulky-rock summit and exceptional views that extend deep into the Collegiate Peaks and from Twin Lakes to Independence Pass. You may continue on a Class 3 scramble along Ellingwood Ridge, or improvise your return down La Plata Basin to join Lake Creek and follow well-defined social trails back to the trailhead to make a loop. This is a much more difficult and less traveled route up La Plata. © 2003-2020 Brian Davis. La Plata is as clean and easy to access as 14ers come. However, once we dropped down onto the grassy slopes again, I felt a bit more exposed, as we didn't have thousands of giant boulders to offer some form of protection (or an alternate target for the lightning). If you have a 4WD vehicle, keep going past Winfield to find the best sites located further on. South Fork Lake Creek Road is private, and public parking is prohibited. West southwest wind 15 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. A number of friends had described La Plata as being a challenging peak. With 4,500 feet of elevation to gain and sketchy afternoon weather forecasted, starting early seemed to be in our best interest. This route is not recommended in Winter. Despite the switchbacks, the climb was still very steep, as each switchback was only about 50 feet long and seemed to gain about 30-40 feet on each turn. Hikers will continue ascending and break treeline 2.5 miles into the hike. In my opinion, these factors contributed to the overall difficulty of this hike, considering that on your descent, your legs are usually a bit less responsive, and the trail can lead to a lot of stumbles - this was exacerbated in our case by the rain, which made these roots and rocks very slick. As we turned east, a few climbers trails were visible, so we picked the most obvious one to ascend up and over the small false summit and on to the real one. Dogs must be leashed at all times in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. Wednesday The trailhead is marked by a large sign on Highway 82. We reached the steep steps at about 12:30am, and were back at the trailhead by 1:10pm (after taking a few minutes to take photos of the raging water and an old abandoned cabin off the trail). Below is the main trail map. We arrived at the trailhead at about 5:40am, and surprisingly, parking was hard to find! Duration – 6 to 9 hours (book time) Another winter route is known as the North Face route, which takes hikers up the steep couloir on the North Face of La Plata. The trailhead remains open year round, so mileage is not added. Seasons – Year-round (caution and experience needed in winter – see below) Sunny, with a high near 41. (This is often cross country skied in winter). The closest campground is the Twin Peaks Campground. The trail officially begins .3 miles down South Fork Lake Creek Road (FDR 391), which is private. With careful attentiveness to cairns along the way, the trail took us all the way to the junction of the Southwest ridge trail at 14,200 feet (9:50am). Trailhead Location – La Plata Peak Trailhead – 10,160 feet (directions below). Lavender Peak: 37.4416/-108.0811 13220 400 0.49 Moss Mount: 37.4389/-108.0781 13192 292 0.25 Babcock Peak: ... Kennebec Pass--- Take the 4WD road up La Plata Canyon to Kennebec Pass and use the Highline Trail. Note that South Fork Lake Creek Road (FDR 391) is private, and public parking is not permitted. The road leading up to the trailhead, CO 82 closes in winter times just beyond the trailhead. Use designated public parking spaces at the La Plata Peak Trailhead on Highway 82 and walk the road to access the trail. A number of friends had described La Plata as being a challenging peak. Contact the Leadville Ranger District (719.486.0749) for the latest weather, trail conditions and trail-specific guidelines when planning your trip. Thankfully the rock hopping eventually gave way to a decent climbers trail, speeding our ascent (as much as it can be sped up above 13,000ft). From the ridge, we could see rain engulfing Capitol Peak to the west and heading our way. Hikers will deviate from the normal path at around 10,800 feet and head towards the ridge. July and This hike begins the same as the La Plata Gulch trail, but hikers will bear left immediately after the second bridge crossing. You can read more about him here: hikingandfishing/about. It begins the same as the recommended winter route (below) but hikers will bear left at “The Crux” and hikers will need to bushwack and do some route finding. West southwest wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. The climbers trail helped tremendously, but it's still a steep climb on talus that can sometimes shift under your weight. You must walk the road (.3 miles) to access the trail. By 8:30am, we were on the ridge (12,750 ft) and finally in the sunshine. come, we wouldn't necessarily have been the tallest items around - but it's best not to tempt fate. I'm an engineer / amateur photographer / avid hiker / tinkerer and I live in Denver. Directions to La Plata Peak Trailhead (La Plata Gulch Trailhead): Max DesMarais is the creator of Hiking & Fishing. About a dozen cars were parked there, leaving little room for us. By all accounts, it's not necessarily longer or steeper than other trails we've done, but this one really wore us down. We found the trailhead 14 miles beyond the turn off of Hwy 24 to Co 82. By all accounts, it's not necessarily longer or steeper than other trails we've done, but this one really wore us down. This path deviates from the normal summer route before treeline, and heads directly to a section known as the Cruz. Above treeline, the rock hopping, although sometimes a welcome change from a standard trail-slog, can also be very tiring.