La Plata Peak

Ann and I had a great time in the mountains yesterday. I invited her to try La Plata Peak with me because the drive and the hike seemed pretty straight-forward. It was also in the neighborhood of other Sawatches, which I had climbed this summer.

We got off to an early start. At 7am it was probably 30 degrees at the trailhead, especially since we saw frost on the ground. Early on we also saw a huge bull elk munching on breakfast. The changing aspen were beautiful and we loved seeing the sun hit the golden trees more and more as the day went on.

We were told by other people and guidebooks that the ridge is longer than you think. They were all right. The ridge went on FOREVER. Plus, we got into snow at 12,500. Not a lot of snow, but enough that it made things slick.

We made it to the top at 11:15, had a beautiful, sunny, windless lunch and then headed back. The hike down was long, but uneventful. We got back to the car around 2:30 and through we’d make it back home before dinner. Ha! We got stuck in tons of traffic and didn’t make it home until 7:00. Even so, it was still a great day.