RT Length: 10.19 miles
Elevation Gain: 2879’
I started from the West Willow Creek 4WD trailhead at 11550’. If you don’t have 4WD, park below, just before the road turns to 4WD. This will add 3 miles and 500’ of elevation total to the hike.
Here are some pictures of the 4WD road in
There are a few dispersed campsites here, and a parking area for about 5 vehicles.
I was on the trail at 5am. The West Willow Creek trail starts at the north end of the parking area, and follows West Willow Creek north on a class 1 trail for 1.4 miles, to Sa Luis Pass and the Colorado Trail.
After hiking for .4 miles, I came to a junction and turned left
Then continued towards San Luis Pass.
At Sal Luis Pass I turned left, and followed the Colorado Trail west.
This was still a clearly defined trail
I could now clearly see PT 13115. This is the route I took to get there. I would advise summiting from the southeast, as the north side is very chossy.
I left the Colorado Trail, and hiked on class 2 tundra and rocks to the summit
I summited PT 13115 at 6:30am. Also, this is where my camera officially died, so it’s selfies at summits until I get a new one.
PT 13115:
To the northwest I could see my other two summits for the day, PT 13005 and Baldy Lejos
I descended the north side of PT 13115 on some loose rocks, and headed over to the point ahead of me. Note: this isn’t ranked, but it does have a summit cairn. It was a class 2 hike to get to the top, but there’s a game trail to the left that will take you around this point.
I crossed the Colorado Trail and headed on over
To my left I could see a game trail below that would get me to my next objective, so I descended this point to the west and picked up the game trail
Following the ridge northwest, following a faint game trail, this is the route I took to the next point on the ridge
I ascended a small gully, then ascended the ridge
It was an easy tundra walk to the summit of 13005
I summited unranked PT 13005 at 7:45am
PT 13005:
To the north was Baldy Lejos.
This is the class 2 route I used to avoid the ridge
Most of this was on easy tundra
From the top of the small, grassy gully, I could see Baldy Lejos
I followed the ridge to get there
I summited Baldy Lejos at 8:15am
Baldy Lejos:
Now to head back to the trailhead. I took a slightly different route on my way back, to avoid the extra elevation gain. I headed back down the ridge to the grassy gully
Instead of re-ascending PT 13005, I stayed on the grassy slope to the left to gain the ridge. There are some game trails here.
Back on the ridge, I followed it south and then dropped down to the left to descend
I could now see PT 13115, but did not want to re-ascend the unnecessary point, so I skirted it to the right on a game trail
I could now see PT 13115 and the Colorado Trail. I headed back to the Colorado Trail
I followed the Colorado Trail back to San Luis Pass
And at San Luis Pass turned right onto the West Willow Creek Trail
And followed West Willow Creek trail back to the trailhead.
I made it back to the trailhead at 10am, making this a 10.19 mile hike with 2879’ of elevation gain in 5 hours.
On to the next trailhead!
Wild Wanderer 