West Spanish Peak (13,626) by Brian Schultz Thursday July 15, 2010
Roundtrip mileage: 7 miles from Cordova Pass
Elevation gain: 2,500'
I drove 460 miles from North Platte, Nebraska straight to the trailhead, hoping the weather would allow for a late start. The parking area at Cordova Pass was jammed full of vehicles when I arrived and a large group of young kids, all with yellow shirts on, was milling about. It turned out to be a church group but I didn't have to worry about the trail being clogged up because they were already back from their hike. The register showed 74 in their group.
I started at 2:10 PM on the excellent trail and soon crossed paths with a few remaining hikers from the church group. I don't know how many of the 74 climbed West Spanish but some these hikers did successfully summit the peak when I asked. I hurried along because storm clouds were building and thunder was rumbling but I took it as a good sign that the summit above was in the clear. When I reached timberline at 3:10, the storm system was moving up the valley on the east side and kept to that side so I was comfortable continuing.
A group of four was just descending from the summit as I neared it, two fathers and their teen daughters from Tennessee who'd begun at noon to climb their first Colorado peak. My arrival time on top was 4:25 and I stayed 20 minutes, which included walking over to the other highpoint. The storm meanwhile had completely passed by and the weather was sunny and clear with just a few chilly gusts. It was pretty neat to be on top so late in the day and be able to enjoy the views, especially those of the volcanic dikes in the valley below. On my descent I caught up to the foursome, chatted with them a while before scooting by, and was back at my car at 6:30, pleased to have squeezed in a peak that I hadn't counted on with any certainty.
Trailhead to summit- 2 hours 15 minutes
Summit to trailhead- 1 hour 45 minutes
Start to finish- 4 hours 20 minutes