La Plata 1

From the Winfield Cemetery

Decision

Guys having fun on Democrat!!!

One of our family rituals/traditions is to vacation each summer in Colorado. This started in 2009 and has happened every year since in one form or another. And each year, the guys (Josh, Caleb, Nic, myself) try to climb a mountain or two. I have developed a criteria for selecting each year's mountain:

1. proximity to our vacation spot (normally Salida)
2. June (still snow up high) or July (afternoon storms)?
3. my personal physical condition at the time of vacation
4. length of the trip to and fro, or for the less poetically inclined, up and down

This year, as in year's past, we are staying in Salida. From Salida we have easy access to most of the Sawatch Range and we haven't climbed most of the Sawatch. Check #1. We are traveling in the third week of July, afternoons storms almost a certainty. Check #2. For a number of reasons, I am only in mediocre condition this season.  Check #3. So because of the afternoon storms and my sedentary lifestyle in the months preceding, we need a mountain with a short round trip.

And the winner is, La Plata Peak from the Southwest Ridge!

Once the decision is made, time to do the research on the mountain. Reading route descriptions, trail reports, and studying pictures...more on this later.

Anticipation...
sets in after reading dozens of trail reports and viewing hundreds of pictures! The thrill of hiking in the back country - the testing of mind and body and the experience of seeing rugged and expansive beauty - is unmatched for me. It appears that the steepness of this trail and the beauty of the North Fork Clear Creek Valley will satisfy both!

Anxiety...
tempers our enthusiasm...Tuesday night's weather report predicted a 60% chance of storms for Buena Vista and Leadville, La Plata lies right in between. Also, as we stargazed on the deck of Silver Ridge, Nic mentioned that he had a very uneasy feeling about Wednesday's adventure. Nothing specific just an ominous feeling. To make things more ominous, he said he was going to tag the summit regardless of rain, sleet, snow, lightning or thunder...hoping that there is not a repeat of last year's Tabeguache's stormy adventure.

Winfield Cemetery
Our climbing team was reduced to Nic and I this year, Josh had to work in San Antonio and Caleb's in-grown toenails were bothering him.

Our diminished team left Salida at 5:15 Wednesday morning, headed north through Buena Vista towards Leadville and turning west on Chaffee County 390 Road. We were on this road a few years ago going towards Huron, this morning we drove past the left fork that goes to the Huron Trail Head and continued on to the Winfield Cemetery and the La Plata Trail.

We park the car in the pines just below the Cemetery. Reading the memorial sign reminds us that, though beautiful, this country is very inhospitable.

At 6:15am, we began our two mile march to the official Trail Head. About a mile in, a 4WD truck carrying what appears to be two hikers passes on the rugged road. About a mile and a half in, we make note of a curious fork in the road that meanders to the right...

Thrice Rebuffed, 3.7

Had a great conversation with our "Good Samaritans," we spoke of their home in the Sangre de Cristo range southeast of Salida, we spoke of the economy in Texas, the fickle weather in the mountains, mentoring adolescents, and Unaccompanied Alien Children.

I arrived safely back at the car at 3:00pm thanks to the super-nice Colorado couple in the red pickup filled with large dogs! I found Caleb tucked safely in the car listening to classical music and playing games on his iTouch...none the worse for the wear. If you don't believe the story of my shoe, here is video testimony:



The only remaining mystery was Nic's status...I calculated that the earliest we could expect him was 3:30pm. I established 4:30pm as my drop-dead, official panic time. The time dragged by and my mind was racing with ALL of the worst-case scenarios for Nic - struck by lightning, a rock slide, a slip on a wet rock, him laying up there with a broken leg, etc. The panic time approached with no sign of Nic. I carefully reviewed our route and re-calculated hiking times, and re-adjusted my panic time to 6:00pm (I "kicked the can down the road," maybe I should be a Government Budget Consultant???).

Though we were several miles from civilization and deep in a forest, my cell phone was able to send and receive texts. Here is a message I sent to Brenda (tucked cozily and dry at the Silver Ridge Lodge in Salida) at 5:02pm:

"We are still waiting on nic...im not officially panicked but is getting close to the time where he would have had plenty of time to get back...will you find the sheriffs number and find out what the missing hiker procedure is...i will be getting worried if he is not here by 6 or 630"

Here is the message I sent to Brenda (still tucked cozily and dry at the Silver Ridge Lodge in Salida, perhaps she is wiser than us?) at 5:06pm:

"Nevermind..."

While I was composing and sending the initial text, Nic rounded the corner and was making his way down the hill towards us. What a relief!