13584 – Wild Wanderer

Twin Peaks A – 13,584

RT Length: 9 miles

Elevation Gain: 4625’

Any time your hike begins in the Piñon Pines and Junipers you know it’s going to be a long day. I arrived at the South Zapata Creek Trailhead after mistakenly being directed to a gated community a few miles away (Google Maps was taking me to South Zapata Creek, not South Zapata Creek Trailhead: I’d suggest putting in Zapata Falls as it will direct you to the campground and trailhead). No worries though, I was free all day and this only put me back about 15 minutes from schedule. The 4WD road to the correct trailhead was a little rough in the beginning with a lot of softball-bowling ball sized rocks, but after the first mile or so it smoothed out. I parked my truck just before the campground entrance and was on the trail at 6:30am.

I followed the trail that led to Zapata Falls for .85 miles

Just past a defunct trail register

And at this cairn left the trenched trail and turned right and headed up the hill.

From here on out I was ‘off trail’. At this point I should have put my snowshoes on, but I tend to be stubborn about such things and kept hiking in just my microspikes. My next objective was to gain the ridge to the south. This ridge was steep and I kept sliding backwards in the snow. Yep, snowshoes would have been a good idea. Here the snow was soft but I was only postholing about a foot at a time. To make things easier I did my best to follow recent game tracks. It looked like there were a lot of deer in the area.

From the top of this ridge I followed the drainage up to a small plateau. Once again, there were tons of deer tracks here and it looked like they’d bedded down in the area last night. I even saw a buck bounding away as I arrived.

I also got my first view of Twin Peaks A

The view was short lived however, as I dipped back into the trees again.

In the trees I came upon an unexpected cabin. It looked old but well kept up. I would have taken a closer look but the snow was really deep here. I broke down and put on my snowshoes.

From here on out the snow just kept getting thicker and stayed sugary. I kept heading southeast, this time through some thick aspen groves. Shout out to the deer/elk that helped me by breaking about 250 vertical feet of trail: I followed their tracks through the trees until they disappeared over the ridge.

This route mainly follows the ridge, but it takes forever to get to treeline. Well, it took me forever because I was trenching the entire time. This was the most challenging trench I’ve ever put together: the snow was deep, unconsolidated, and never ending. Several times the snow was so deep I couldn’t go forward and I had to get creative and zig-zag my route to make it possible to continue. This type of trenching is tiring!

I’d make it to what I thought would be the treeline, only to find more trees ahead of me. Here’s a look at the route from one such area

More trenching through the trees

And I came to an area so thick with snow it was untrenchable. I was exhausted and seriously considered turning back: where was treeline anyway?!?! Last week I’d had to turn back on Rinker Peak due to unconsolidated snow, and I really didn’t want to repeat the same scenario twice. I decided instead of continuing along the ridge to descend a little to the south to see if the terrain was any easier, and it was! I came across a rocky area and easily traversed a little below the ridge and then regained the ridge (to more snow)

I (finally!) exited treeline and had just a little bit more trenching to do before taking off my snowshoes and tackling the rest of the route in just microspikes. Up until this point I wasn’t sure I was going to complete this hike: all that trenching had worn me out and I thought I’d never make it to treeline. Several times I’d thought about turning back, but I’d put in so much work I didn’t want to give up. This clear view of the peak renewed my spirits and I was ready to go.

I could see the summit ahead of me and it was a nice day: warm with no wind. I thought taking off my snowshoes would be a good idea and could also save some valuable time. In the beginning, this was a good idea. I was able to quickly rock-hop up the ridge

After gaining the first bump however, things changed. The snow was no more consolidated here than it had been before treeline. In fact, the snow was 4-6 inches deep: a thin layer over rocky terrain. The snow never held my weight and I frequently postholed in areas where I could easily have twisted an ankle. I was cursing myself for taking off my snowshoes, and would have put them back on except the wind had now kicked up and I was afraid to take off my gloves because of the exposure. I was just going to have to be careful and rock-hop whenever possible.

I followed the ridge as closely as possible, but those cornices were weak. I kept postholing in the shallow snow and my feet were becoming frozen. I wasn’t giving up though: I could see the summit!

Here’s a look at Twin Peaks B (unranked) and Twin Peaks A. There was a lot more snow at the summit than I’d been able to see from below, those cornices are bigger than they look, and once again, hollow. I followed the ridge to the summit.

I took a few steps up the cornice to try and get as high as possible and heard a hollow sound below my foot. I quickly retreated: In no way was I going to climb to the top of the cornice.

I found the summit wind break, set up my camera on top of my backpack, got a (terrible) picture, and decided to book it back down. I wasn’t going to play with that cornice.

I had no desire to climb Twin Peaks B today as well: The cornices were hollow and I would need to go over one just to start, that wind was becoming insane, and I could no longer feel my feet.

Time to head back down the ridge

There were some great views along the way of Lindsey, Ellingwood Point, Blanca, and Little Bear

And also the Sand Dunes

Here’s the rest of the route down the ridge and back into treeline

And a look from treeline up the ridge

I stopped to put back on my snowshoes at treeline and headed back to the trees, carefully retracing my steps and making my tracks into a solid trench. This is more tiring than it sounds.

I followed the ridge and in a small clearing between hills saw what looked like a reverse shadow far ahead of me. Anyone know what this is?

I made my way back to the cabin

And decided to keep my snowshoes on for the rest of the trek back to the trailhead. Here’s the way down the ravine

And down the ridge

Back to the Zapata trail

It had been a long day, and it was starting to get dark. I’d originally wanted to visit Zapata Falls while I was here, but looking at the time I wouldn’t make it there until after dark. I’ll just have to come back when I’m here later this season. The trail was easy to follow from here

Back to the trailhead.

I watched an absolutely stunning sunset as I broke down my gear and got ready to head home.

I made it back to my truck at 5:30pm, making this a 9 mile hike with 4625’ of elevation gain in 11 hours. This was by far the most tiring day I’ve had trenching ever, but totally worth it!

West Spanish Peak – 13,584

West Spanish Peak – 13,631

RT Length 7.9 miles

Elevation Gain 2400’

I’ve been eyeing this trail for weeks, and was finally able to make the hike! I don’t do well in the cold (or wind) so I’ve been looking for a relatively clear, wind free day. It’s been clear but the wind hasn’t cooperated, so instead of 14ers and 13ers I’ve been hiking 12ers, 11ers, 10ers, 9ers, and 8ers for the past month and a half: I needed to get above treeline again!!!

Today’s forecast at the summit was 38* with 15mph gusts, which I figured I could handle. I’d been keeping an eye on the Webcam, and the peak looked pretty barren from snow: http://www.keno.org/colorado_web_cams/cuchara_cams.htm (side note: If you use this link, know the best time to view for clarity is around 3pm, and the bottom webcam is only updated once a week, the others usually every half hour).

I found several directions to the trailhead, but none of them were ‘exactly’ correct. This is the exact route I took:

I25 South to Walsenburg, Exit 50 (the second 160) turn right

Continue on 160 for about 13 miles

Turn Left onto CO12

Continue on CO12 for 21.8 miles

Turn Left at Cordova Pass CR46

The trailhead is exactly 6 miles on the road, near the campground

The road in was a 2WD road, but iced over in a lot of areas, making it an easy 4WD road for this point in the year. Just be careful: there are 3-foot-deep drainages on either side of the road filled with snow so they look like they’re level with the road (but they’re not), and driving into one of those isn’t fun to get out of, even with a 4WD. It was obvious many had made this mistake.

The trailhead is the West Peak Trailhead. I parked here. There are restrooms but they’re locked. I was told to pay a fee, but all signage and fee envelopes (etc.) were gone, presumably closed for the winter. I gathered my gear and started on the trail at 8am.

A few yards in I came upon a trail register. The last entry was from December 28. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t seen anyone else on the trail today.

I hiked for about a quarter mile before coming to a meadow. I’d seen quite a bit of cow patties along the trail up to this point, and figured there were cattle in the area. When I reached this meadow I thought I saw cows on the saddle ahead of me. I made a mental note to look out for them, and stopped to put on my gloves and hat because I could hear the wind picking up. The wind didn’t stop for the entire hike!

What I thought were cows ended up being bighorn sheep! So cool! They were a bit skittish and ran up and over the hill as soon as they saw me.

When I’d entered the meadow I thought I was out of the treeline, but the trail dipped back down and I walked for about 2 more miles through the trees. Most of the path was clear, but there were a few snow covered areas.

This trail is super easy to follow the entire way to the summit. There’s only one trail junction, and it’s clearly marked.

The trail is also very easy until you get to treeline, but make no mistake, most of those 2000+ feet in elevation occur during the last mile of this hike, so it is still quite a workout. Once you hit treeline you turn right and see what’s ahead of you:

The trail follows the ridge on the left (but stay to the right while on the ridge). It’s all loose rock until it becomes scree, and it’s straight up for over a mile. Since there are so many rocks there are tons of cairns and the route is easy to follow. About halfway up I saw a small wind break made out of rocks, which was filled with snow. There was no other snow on the mountainside.

After hiking for what seems like forever you’ll come to a false summit, but it’s ok to be happy about it because the rest of the trail is very easy and is only about another 100 yards or so. This was also the only spot I saw snow above treeline (besides in that small shelter).

I was able to make that little bit of snow look like a lot of snow…

Here’s a view of East Spanish Peak from the summit of West Spanish Peak

And photo proof I summited. I started at 8am and summited at 9:45am.

The summit was very windy and cold. The weather predicted 38* with 15mph wind gusts, but those winds were actually closer to 20mph and sustained. I didn’t spend much time on the summit before heading down. Here’s a view of the ridge back down. Crazy huh? It’s January 5^th and there’s no snow!!! Check out those dry ski runs…

About halfway down I noticed a very small heart on a rock. It was less than 2 inches in diameter, and randomly caught my eye. At first I thought it was moss, but upon closer inspection noticed someone had painted it on the rock. I have no idea why they did this, or why they chose this particular area: it wasn’t on the main trail and it wasn’t very visible. It made me happy to see it, and I took a picture of it before reminding myself LNT. So, to the person who painted this, it made me happy, but it’s really not cool to do this stuff so please don’t do it again.

Here’s a photo of what it looks like when you get to treeline. See that meadow in the middle? That’s the one that I crossed that had the Bighorn Sheep. The entire hike above treeline I kept that meadow in view in case I got lost (although this is such an easy, well maintained trail I didn’t foresee that happening).

The hike back down went quickly. When I reached the meadow again I looked for those sheep but didn’t see them. Well, that is until I’d made it all the way across. At that point I looked back and saw them about 100 yards away from me. Never one to miss an opportunity, I backtracked and tried to get a few photos. The wind was blowing towards me so I was able to sneak up on them pretty close before they saw me. By pretty close I mean about 15 yards away. I stood in the shade of a tree and tried to get photos of them before they noticed me and ran off (about 3 seconds).

I continued on, and during the last part of the hike I actually saw a pair of birds. They were about 10 inches long, much bigger than this picture suggests (I still need to identify them…)

I made it back to the trail register and signed out.

I reached my truck at 11:40am. I hadn’t seen another person on this trail. It’s funny how it usually takes me longer to hike down than hike up: must be all that elevation training I do everyday…lol!