After a week in Buena Vista I had one more free day in Colorado to hike before making the drive back to San Diego.
The weather was a bit questionable elsewhere in the state so I stuck to the beautiful Sawatch Range where fall foliage would be in full effect.
La Plata is an easy, paved, 40 minute drive north of Buena Vista. The last 20 minutes of the drive follows CO-82 W past the Twin Lakes, where there are a number of free dispersed camping spots (be mindful there are a number of private residences/properties as well that are clearly marked).
ABOVE: Looking north from the the hike up to La Plata Peak
The bumpy dirt road past at the trailhead is not worth driving down, there is no additional parking allowed any closer to the trailhead and this leads into some private property.
After crashing my drone into a tree up on the side of a mountain (which I would thankfully retrieve the next day) I got some sleep at the trailhead before my 9th and final CO peak for the month of September.
I started at 6am and sped through a couple flat miles. After passing through a beautiful valley the surrounding mountains and ridgeline of La Plata start to come into view. I began up the first of many switchbacks and started to quickly gain elevation. There were quite a few other hikers on the trail and the foliage in the mountains had only gotten more beautiful since the previous weekend.
The last mile or so is a steep, rocky scramble. It’s fairly well marked, but for the most part it’s a "choose your own adventure". The profile of the hike and the last scramble to the summit reminded me of Mount of the Holy Cross.
ABOVE: The view from the summit of La Plata Peak
It was pretty windy towards the top and after 3 hours 55 minutes I was sitting on the summit eating my PB&J and apple.
I hunkered down behind a rock and enjoyed the view before setting off down hill. There were parts of the descent above the tree-line that were very slippery and slow-going over the loose gravel.
When I got back to the trailhead I started hiking up on the other side of the road (off-trail) to try and retrieve my drone I had crashed the previous evening. This added a steep 800ft on the day but thankfully I recovered the drone (and footage) that was sitting on the ground in the middle of a beautiful aspen forest.
I hiked La Plata via Trail #1474 (as named on AllTrails) which is the standard route. In total the La Plata hike was 6.25 hours, 9 miles, and 4,800 feet of elevation.
