The air was starting to warm, and the snow-pack of the Rocky Mountains beginning its slow decline for the upcoming Summer. As you might imagine, the mountains in southern Colorado are some of the first to clear up every year, and this year was not an exception, even with the wild weather the state has been experiencing. And so, Skyler & I made a trip South to East Spanish Peak, the less trafficked of the iconic pair of peaks that stand just outside the town of La Veta.

Before even leaving La Veta, the road to the trailhead turned to dirt, and the scenery became semi-forested and pastoral in the shadow of the mountains. We passed but one other car on the road – a promising sign.

East Spanish Peak has two trailheads: one for people who drive high-clearance vehicles and one for those who don’t. Luckily, I’m in the former category, and when the road changed to more of a jeep trail, I decided to go for it. After about an hour of driving (adding in time for Skyler to toss sharp rocks out of the way and for an overheated transmission to cool) we reached the upper trailhead. Only two other vehicles were parked there, far less than could be expected at West Spanish Peak for such a sunny day.

The first couple miles of trail stayed relatively flat as it circled around the base of the peaks. With only a couple stream crossings to slow us down, we made good progress. The ground sloped downwards to our left, allowing frequent views of East Spanish Peak through breaks in the trees.

After a brief uphill push, we found ourselves at the saddle between the two peaks. A signpost with its best days behind it pointed the way to an otherwise difficult-to-notice trail which forked off from the main path. That would be our route.

The trail was still quite flat for another couple miles. And that was the rub; the roughly 3000 feet of gain in this hike would be over the course of just a few short segments. Sure enough, it didn’t take Skyler and I long to hit the first of what would be many switchbacks, taking us up…

… Up…

… And up…

… Until we hit treeline.

The slope of scree stretched up ahead to the next ridge. Three other climbers were far ahead, creeping their way up the rocks. With both Skyler and I being out of practice climbing at altitude, we had to pick our way up slowly as well. The rocks, while frequently loose, were still large enough as to be easy to climb over. We pressed on.

Upon reaching that next ridge a long while later, we found it to be flat again for a ways until the final push to the summit. However, the route was narrow, and a few banks of snow still lay in the way. The slopes became bare cliffs on either side of the ridge in many spots, leaving Skyler and I to move forward via an awkward combination of scrambling through snow and dodging down and around the riskier spots. A strong breeze in the air further slowed our ascent.

One final uphill push was the last bit of the hike before the summit. At the top, we rejoiced over a few triscuits and a sip of water before turning around to start back down.

It was getting late. And cold.

Still, we were able to get bracing views of surrounding vistas as we worked our way back down – breathtaking, despite the smog soaking the air.

The climb back down the mountain went from difficult to painful to grueling in rapid succession. Our water began to run low as we got back below treeline, and the headaches set in quickly. We were practically running as we reached the switchbacks from earlier, but the trail just kept going. The sun was near the horizon as we arrived back at the trail fork on the saddle. We stumbled onwards.

We were forced to make a stop at one of the stream crossings for water, but otherwise continued to move as quickly as we could.

Passing by the sign for the Spanish Peaks Wilderness, we knew the parking area was close by. Within a mile we were pulling ourselves into the car and on our way back down the rocky road. It had been a long day, with just over 10 miles of trail covered and more than 3,000 feet of elevation gain. The peaks pierced the horizon behind us as we drove back up North.

Until next time…

~Tyler & Skyler

(Words courtesy of Tyler Brant; photos courtesy of Skyler Stanley)