UN 11594 & UN 11144 by Brian Schultz Thursday July 25, 2019

UN 11594:

Roundtrip mileage: 1.45 miles from Cordova Pass (elev 11,250')
Elevation gain: 345'
Start to finish: 50 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

With the weather forecast calling for 90% chance of showers/storms, we picked two easy peaks for today. We drove Highway 12 from La Veta to Forest Road 415 and up FR 415 to Cordova Pass. This is an easy two wheel drive road and we parked at the pass, where many people begin their climb for West Spanish Peak. It's been years since I was last here and a fee is now required for camping, hiking, and picnicking. We began at 8:35 AM, opposite the trail to West Spanish Peak, on the old road behind the restroom.

The road soon faded out but the summit is just a short distance away on grassy slopes, and an easy bushwhack put us on top (photo 1, photo 2) twenty minutes later at 8:55. There is a beautiful home just below the summit with its own access road, and surprisingly, no private property signs were posted warning us to keep out. Its setting has an outstanding view of West Spanish Peak.

A crew was working on the summit doing work with the cell towers but they didn't shoo us out either. We got back to the parking area at 9:25 and minutes later a forest ranger pulled in and parked, presumably to collect fees and empty the overflowing trash in the restroom.

UN 11144:

Roundtrip mileage: 3.5 miles from Bear Lake campground
Elevation gain: 710'
Start to finish: 1 hour 55 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

We drove from Cordova Pass back to Hwy 12 and headed north. Forest Road 422 comes up quickly and we turned left on it, following it all the way to Bear Lake campground. We parked, paid our fee, and started hiking the trail at 10:45 from the north end of the campground. The trail is excellent and we stayed on it until reaching a grassy field. We departed the trail and followed easy terrain up until we were north of the peak, then began an easy bushwhack south through the trees to the summit. We topped out at 11:35.

Views from the summit are excellent, especially of Trinchera Peak. Storm activity was brewing but we stayed 20 minutes anyway before departing at 11:55. Our return route matched our ascent route and we arrived back at the trailhead at 12:40. We stayed dry. These were both easy and short hikes, fine choices if weather is a concern as it was for us.