San Luis Peak

May 27, 2020

San Luis peak is in the eastern San Juans. Although it is an easy hike, it is not climbed very often because of its remote location and lack of challenges. This day proved to be full of challenges though. The snow was deep and soft and the easy Colorado and Continental Divide trails had deep snow in the basins. It was an exhausting day of post-holing and wading through waist-deep snow.

Palisade campground along the Rio Grande river north of South Fork.

Camping at the West Willow Creek trailhead. Not a sole around.

The sky in this area is very dark - near Bortle 1. At 11,000 feet, it is a great place for Milky Way photography.

High-desert start to the San Luis trail.

There was a lot of snow snow along the CDT/CT in the basins.

Morning snow was hard enough but coming back it was all post-holing.

View to the west from the top of San Luis peak.