Route Climbed: Stewart Creek Date Climbed: 07/04/04
Camped at the trailhead the night before. Met some really neat people! It was a really long walk in before you really started going up. It was the difference between night and day how I felt today compared to yesterday! Felt much better and had a better attitude, too! Saw some beautiful sights, including a moose...TWICE! Who even knew there were Moose in CO? We're slow, but we keep on plugging and get there eventually! Poor Bryan and his blisters! The trek out was a killer. My dogs were really barkin' IF ya know what I mean!
The book says this is a 12 mile trip, but the GPS said that it was closer to 14 miles. In either case it is very long. The shallow slopes are made up by this long distance hike. Anyway, hiking up the valley, we saw a moose on the other side of the beaver ponds. A few creek crossings, 4 miles, and 2,000' we finally hit treeline. We then finally started to gain some altitude on a nice trail that switched a little to the ridge line. From there you can see the summit, but there was still a long sweeping up climb in front of us. Blisters had slowed me down, but we finally made the summit. Spent about 30 minutes on top and the weather was starting to get ugly. Headed down fast to treeline and then just a nice easy hike to the car. Saw the moose again on the way out.
Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: July 18, 2003
The final 14er of our trip to the San Juans making a total of 7. This was a nice way to end the tour as it was the easiest of the 7 and a nice leg stretch after the two backpacks and 6 more technical peak prior to this day. Weather was perfect and we ran into a large group of Mennonites on the summit.
Route Climbed: Standard route via Stewart Creek Date Climbed: August 16, 2003
Summitted by 9:00 a.m. and the clouds were already moving in. Too bad! Stewart Creek was gorgeous, though. A trip report is available here.
big_g - Aug 16, 2003 10:18 pm Date Climbed: Aug 16, 2003
Route Climbed: West Willow Creek Approach \ South Ridge
I probably should not have tagged this one today. It meant going up in marginal weather which became risky weather just one ridge away. I summitted and got back down to around 12,300 before the storm was overhead. I won that gamble and tomorrow I am buying a Powerball ticket.
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek - 10,460' Date Climbed: July 28, 2001
We started hiking at 8:30am it was pretty flat until we hit 12,400 foot only gaining 1,000 feet in four miles. There we had 800 feet of elevation gain the ridge. This was the hardest part of the day.
It’s written in most books that San Luis is the looniest fourteener in the state. Not today there were about fifteen people on the summit.
On the way down there is about three miles of beaver ponds and the books I've read said that there are Moose in the area. Sure enough about a two miles from the trailhead we saw a female sitting in the weeds. We could only see her head through and took pictures.
It was a good day San Luis is one of the easier fourteeners in the state.
Route Climbed: East Slopes from Stewart Creek Date Climbed: July 20th, 2002
Very nice hike up the valley to 12,000 or so. You cannot see the peak until you reach the saddle. Clouds moved in very early - around 9:30am or so - and there were lots of others enroute to the summit, so I am not sure whether they continued or turned around.
All direction posted for this peak are excellent, but would recomment using either Roach's 13er directions vs. Roach's 14ers. Took us about an hour from Gunnison to reach trailhead - roads were only gravel and dirt but very well maintained (compared to alot of Chaffee County roads!).
Route Climbed: Stewert Creek Trailhead-North East Ridge Date Climbed: July 16, 2000
This was an uneventful climb. My sons Troy & Pat & me did see 5 elk across Stewert Creek just before the steep grunt to the ridge. I've tried twice before to climb this mountain from the Willow Creek Trailhead. The first time I ended up on San Luis Pass in a snow storm. The second time we (my wife and I) started down into the valley southwest of the peak when the clouds started rolling in. We decided to go back to the car and were glad we did. It began raining as we reached our car and was still raining as we ate breakfast in Creede..
charles97 - Jan 28, 2005 2:02 pm
Route Climbed: Equity Mine Trailhead Date Climbed: September 7, 2004Got off track near the start and had to bushwhack, but otherwise and uneventful hike on a gorgeous day.
Brad Snider - Sep 21, 2004 9:48 pm
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek Date Climbed: August 14, 2004My 11th Fourteener, first time in the San Juans. Very enjoyable day, beautiful weather and on the summit by 9 AM!
bc44caesar - Aug 9, 2004 6:08 pm
Route Climbed: South Ridge from Willow Creek Date Climbed: 7 Aug 2004Nice weather, but the most boring mountain I've ever climbed...only salvaged the day by doing an exciting traverse to Organ Mountain
Speedy - Jul 16, 2004 1:03 am
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek Date Climbed: 07/04/04Camped at the trailhead the night before. Met some really neat people! It was a really long walk in before you really started going up. It was the difference between night and day how I felt today compared to yesterday! Felt much better and had a better attitude, too! Saw some beautiful sights, including a moose...TWICE! Who even knew there were Moose in CO? We're slow, but we keep on plugging and get there eventually! Poor Bryan and his blisters! The trek out was a killer. My dogs were really barkin' IF ya know what I mean!
Bryan W - Jul 13, 2004 11:25 am
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek Date Climbed: 7/4/04The book says this is a 12 mile trip, but the GPS said that it was closer to 14 miles. In either case it is very long. The shallow slopes are made up by this long distance hike. Anyway, hiking up the valley, we saw a moose on the other side of the beaver ponds. A few creek crossings, 4 miles, and 2,000' we finally hit treeline. We then finally started to gain some altitude on a nice trail that switched a little to the ridge line. From there you can see the summit, but there was still a long sweeping up climb in front of us. Blisters had slowed me down, but we finally made the summit. Spent about 30 minutes on top and the weather was starting to get ugly. Headed down fast to treeline and then just a nice easy hike to the car. Saw the moose again on the way out.
ctruscot - Jul 11, 2004 8:36 pm
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek Date Climbed: September 2003Beautiful hike on a great September day! What a long drive in to trail head.
Ratballs - Jun 26, 2004 7:19 pm
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek Date Climbed: June 5, 2003I climbed this last year. It was a beautiful, remote, wildernesque hike. The drive to the trailhead was a different matter: brutal and epiphanic.
Alan Ellis - Jun 12, 2004 10:57 pm
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek Date Climbed: June 10, 2004Sick as a dog with AMS; otherwise, great weather and a good day.
DaveC - May 21, 2004 9:23 pm
Route Climbed: from the east Date Climbed: july 98pristine wilderness, almost no people. camped here 2 nights, just cz.
xskier77 - Feb 1, 2004 11:34 pm
Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: July 18, 2003The final 14er of our trip to the San Juans making a total of 7. This was a nice way to end the tour as it was the easiest of the 7 and a nice leg stretch after the two backpacks and 6 more technical peak prior to this day. Weather was perfect and we ran into a large group of Mennonites on the summit.
JonBradford - Nov 5, 2003 10:10 pm
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek Route Date Climbed: June 17, 2001Climbed along with Organ Mountain. This made for a wonderful scenic day. Raymond dog was along with me on this one.
Jon Bradford
Bruce Pooley - Oct 13, 2003 7:08 pm
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek Date Climbed: October 4, 2003New snow on the ridge and summit -- maximum of 6 inches. Cool, breezy and quite cloudy with some breaks. No one on summit at 3:00 pm.
Its always great to be on the summit, no matter what the weather is.
RyanS - Aug 22, 2003 3:49 pm
Route Climbed: Standard route via Stewart Creek Date Climbed: August 16, 2003Summitted by 9:00 a.m. and the clouds were already moving in. Too bad! Stewart Creek was gorgeous, though. A trip report is available here.
big_g - Aug 16, 2003 10:18 pm Date Climbed: Aug 16, 2003
Route Climbed: West Willow Creek Approach \ South RidgeI probably should not have tagged this one today. It meant going up in marginal weather which became risky weather just one ridge away. I summitted and got back down to around 12,300 before the storm was overhead. I won that gamble and tomorrow I am buying a Powerball ticket.
Grant - Jan 29, 2003 1:25 pm
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek - 10,460' Date Climbed: July 28, 2001We started hiking at 8:30am it was pretty flat until we hit 12,400 foot only gaining 1,000 feet in four miles. There we had 800 feet of elevation gain the ridge. This was the hardest part of the day.
It’s written in most books that San Luis is the looniest fourteener in the state. Not today there were about fifteen people on the summit.
On the way down there is about three miles of beaver ponds and the books I've read said that there are Moose in the area. Sure enough about a two miles from the trailhead we saw a female sitting in the weeds. We could only see her head through and took pictures.
It was a good day San Luis is one of the easier fourteeners in the state.
mr_g - Jul 22, 2002 6:19 am
Route Climbed: East Slopes from Stewart Creek Date Climbed: July 20th, 2002Very nice hike up the valley to 12,000 or so. You cannot see the peak until you reach the saddle. Clouds moved in very early - around 9:30am or so - and there were lots of others enroute to the summit, so I am not sure whether they continued or turned around.
All direction posted for this peak are excellent, but would recomment using either Roach's 13er directions vs. Roach's 14ers. Took us about an hour from Gunnison to reach trailhead - roads were only gravel and dirt but very well maintained (compared to alot of Chaffee County roads!).
sidhayes - Jun 29, 2002 6:19 am
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek Date Climbed: August 18, 2001A different experience than on other fourteeners; more remote than most.. Windy and cold on top; took 1:43 to the summit.
wayneaflick - Jun 28, 2002 11:51 pm
Route Climbed: Stewert Creek Trailhead-North East Ridge Date Climbed: July 16, 2000This was an uneventful climb. My sons Troy & Pat & me did see 5 elk across Stewert Creek just before the steep grunt to the ridge. I've tried twice before to climb this mountain from the Willow Creek Trailhead. The first time I ended up on San Luis Pass in a snow storm. The second time we (my wife and I) started down into the valley southwest of the peak when the clouds started rolling in. We decided to go back to the car and were glad we did. It began raining as we reached our car and was still raining as we ate breakfast in Creede..
Peter Eliassen - Aug 16, 2001 8:03 am
Route Climbed: Stewart Creek Trail Date Climbed: 7/25/01Enjoy this beautiful peak, it is worth the drive! Wildlife is abundant in this area.
jratk - Aug 1, 2001 5:16 pm
Route Climbed: Stewart Trailhead Date Climbed: 1994