Hike Hesperus Mountain, Lavender Peak, Mount Moss San Juan National Forest, CO

Aug 09, 2021 — Ah, Hesperus Mountain and its uniquely banded and colorful presence that marks the high point of the La Plata Mountains in southwestern Colorado. This peak has eluded me for years, always feeling just slightly too far out of the way. Finally, Matt, Kevin, his sister Sonya, and I joined forces to get to Hesperus Mountain. Of course, we couldn't knowingly abandon Lavender Peak and Mount Moss just along the ridgeline, two other Colorado 13ers that would otherwise be a pain to get to if not doing them with Hesperus. Although this is a short hike distance-wise, the terrain is loose, undulating, and slow-moving.

Reaching the trailhead was less of an undertaking that we expected. I'd argue that any car can make it to within a mile of the trailhead, and somewhat decent tires and clearance can get you the rest of the way, if not to within a quarter mile. We started along the West Mancos Trail, which is marked on my attached Google map as a road, but it's not a road. The trail descends a few hundred feet, crosses the North Fork of the Mancos River (kind of just a little creek). The trail continues west, but we left it after crossing the creek. I was expecting a lot of bushwhacking, but much of the brush is avoidable by staying within the trees. There is a cairned route, but it's really no big deal if you don't find it. The brush isn't thorny and just gave us a chance to make fun of Kevin for his abundance of bushwhack routes he undertakes in New Mexico.

Once we emerged from the short bushwhack, we were on grassy slopes at the base of Hesperus Mountain. I recommend trying to keep to the route on my attached map. Staying too far to the east will result in sketchy, loose scree. Too far west and you're on a very steep slope that would be difficult to ascend. Our route started up steep grass, then introduced some light Class 2 talus before introducing some steeper Class 2 with large enough boulders that a rockslide is possible, but rockslide potential is a short-lived section. We continued on Class 2 terrain to the west ridge of Hesperus Mountain. Once here, a social trail led through the talus along the ridgeline, taking us up without any real route-finding required. Along the ridge we encountered two short Class 2+ moves to overcome little cliff bands, and one Class 2+ section up a somewhat loose rocky gully. It's a bit steep overall, but the social trail keeps the ascent nice and pleasant.

From the summit of Hesperus Mountain, we took in the wonderful views of the La Plata Mountains, and I reminsced about the very fun traverse of Babcock to Spiller, a route called The Knife, just to the south. We also had another chance to make fun of Kevin for somehow finding a "route" online that claims you can traverse from Lavender Peak to Centennial Peak. A photo below will show you why this isn't feasible. Of course, we also stared at the route to come, the traverse to Lavender Peak. It looked exciting. Sonya decided to enjoy the summit, and we continued down Hesperus Mountain's southeast ridge, onward to Lavender. The traverse started out loose, and then continued to be so. Photos and captions below can explain the details better, but I'll summarize. A series of humps along the ridge are separated by numerous notches, which are eroded to the point that they require some sketchy downclimbing to get in and out of. Matt and Kevin seemed to love the traverse, but I wasn't so keen on it because the rock quality is poor and fractured and there were only a few moves that promoted confidence.

After the notches, the route improved significantly, in my opinion. We reached a Class 2 gully that lasted about fifty feet with one Class 3 move, the top of which plopped us beneath the western base of Lavender Peak. We got excited and ascended too early, navigating some tougher Class 3/4 terrain, so I've adjusted my map accordingly to remove our mistakes. Make sure to keep low for a while, staying just above where the terrain drops off on the right. There's a sweet spot for this section that will be more obvious on the way back. Regardless, you can't go too wrong unless you end up pulling moves any harder than Class 2/3, which is likely what will happen if you ascend too far after reaching the top of the aforementioned gully.

Once we traversed far enough beneath Lavender Peak's south face, we ascended to a notch separating the high point (left) from the false high point (right). The true high point requires fun Class 3+/4, achieved by starting toward the notch separating the two, but not entering it. We located a Class 3 option to ascend the blocky, interesting formations, and then continued on steep and blocky terrain. The crux is about 50 feet up, but it doesn't feel as exposed as you'd think it would be. I'm calling it Class 3+ because everyone seems to not want to call it Class 4, but it's definitely debateable. It's a tricky move, requiring a large crack for a hand, a high foot, and a bit of a committing pull. Surprisingly, getting back down felt less difficult than going up. Either way, the moves use solid rock and it's all sorts of fun to gain the summit of Lavender Peak. There are two sub-peaks once above the crux, the left (western) one being slightly taller. We crawled through a boulder-created tunnel to more easily reach the summit block.

Next up was Mount Moss, a much less serious endeavor. After descending from Lavender Peak, we continued east on Class 2 talus leading to the summit of Mount Moss. The views were great and it was nice to look back all the way to Hesperus Mountain. Now for getting back. Some seem to choose to go back up and over Hesperus Mountain, while others just decide Mount Moss is home and call it quits (kidding). We backtracked, knowing that we didn't want to go all the way back to Hesperus. We passed back under Lavender Peak's south side and then descended the long Class 2 gully. At the base of the gully, rather than continue along the ridgeline, we decided to descend the loose and somewhat dangerous slope to the north, accessed via a coloir. While still probably only Class 2, the rock is initially pretty loose and rockslides are possible. We stayed close together and descended at the same time to avoid kicking rocks on one another. The talus slowly shrank and became scree that we were able to quickly descend as we neared the bottom. Our goal was to continue north and meet up with the Sharkstooth Trail, which I marked on my attached map. Along the way, the terrain alternated between grassy tundra and Class 2 boulder-hopping. A short section of trail-less forest walking led to the Sharkstooth Trail.

After we made it to the Sharkstooth Trail, we took some time to stare at Hesperus Mountain, really stunning from this angle. We continued down the trail, taking a short detour along the historic Windy Williams Mine Trail, which included little informative signs about the almost nonexistent ruins from this somewhat modern mining site. Pleasant forest walking brought us back to the trailhead.