La Plata Peak (14,336) by Brian Schultz Saturday July 12, 1997
Back to Winfield for a try on the south side of La Plata. I drove as far as I dared on the rough road before parking and started hiking up the road at 6:50. The morning skies were clear and my legs felt great after a full week of hiking fourteeners. When I got into the meadow I was so focused on the scenery I missed the turnoff and hiked quite a ways before I spotted a tent ahead. A father and son were making breakfast and I stopped to verify my location. He confirmed my having hiked 15 minutes past the cutoff so back I went. I found it and shortly arrived at the register.
Signing in was a couple, Kary and Janet, and I joined them for an hour or so hiking up the trail. When we got up higher I was concerned about being in the proper gulch but Kary was convinced we were fine. We finally topped out into the basin and although we couldn't see the summit from there, the rest of the route became obvious (Dawson's guide), and I went on ahead as Kary and Janet took a longer break. I gained the shoulder above the basin and hopped the rocky slope up to the ridge, following it a long ways over two false summits before finishing on the summit at 11:30. A large group was on top already, having come up the other side. The weather was sunny and cool and I kicked in for a long rest.
As people were coming and going I saw a couple and two dogs arrive and they looked familiar. Sure enough, it was Alan and Amy who I met a year ago on Uncompahgre. What a nice surprise- Alan even remembered the peak I was going to do after Uncompahgre (Culebra). They didn't stay long and I was about to descend when Kary and Janet finally arrived, so I stayed another 20 minutes to visit with them.
I left at 12:40, after an hour and ten minutes on the summit, stopped just once on the way down and got back to the car at 3:05.
La Plata was a long hike from the south side but the trail was very good; my concerns about routefinding were unwarranted. Just watch for the road that turns up to the register.
Total hike time- 8 hours 15 minutes (including 1 hour 10 minutes on summit)