9/12/04 – West Spanish Peak – West Peak Trail, descent via Apishapa Trail

7.6 miles, 3270'


After finishing the fourteeners the day before, Dwight Sunwall, Erin, and I spent the night at the Cordova Pass Campground so we could climb West Spanish Peak. Kurt Traskos, who was along for the festivities the day before, joined us. As we got ready that morning, Kurt was brushing his teeth and reading the informational sign at the pass when he had an idea. He suggested that, since we had two vehicles, that we use a car-drop. This way we could descend the Apishapa Trail after climbing the peak via the West Peak Trail. We thought this was an attractive option because the sign said the Apishapa Trail crosses several of the Spanish Peaks' trademark igneous dikes. Dwight and Erin drove to the other trailhead and back to drop a vehicle, and we set off for West Spanish at 8:00.

The West Peak Trail crosses a meadow and enters a small forest before switchbacking up toward the peak. Along the way, we got a good perspective of the peak and one of its dikes as well as a look north toward another pair of dike-radiating tertiary intrusions, Mount Maestas and Silver Mountain. Collectively the Spanish Peaks area is the best place in the world to witness igneous dikes first-hand. At the base of the 1600' talus climb to the summit, we took a short break. From there it was straightforward to follow the good trail past unique rock to the top. Dwight set a great, sustainable pace, and we were on the summit two hours after we left the pass.

The views from this freestanding, prominent mountain are outstanding. The best part was inspecting the dikes shooting out from the peak's base. We also had fine views of Culebra Peak, Greenhorn Mountain, the Big Wall, and neighboring East Spanish Peak. We spent the better part of an hour on the summit, before we started back down. At the unmarked junction with the Apishapa Trail, we turned left and started descending into the increasingly hot forest. Soon, we did pass through a very small dike in a meadow, but then we entered the forest again. We kept hiking and hiking, wondering when that next dike would appear from around a corner, but that moment never came. It wasn't until we were a quarter-mile from the trailhead that we passed by a formation that reasonably could be called impressive. Kurt tried climbing the dike, and we soon found out why you don't hear about people rock-climbing around the Spanish Peaks; the dikes are very loose! Kurt caused some rockfall and had some trouble getting back down. I'm not upset that we used the Apishapa Trail for our descent – it was a pleasant enough forest hike – but I can't recommend it if you're hoping to see some dikes up close and personal. If that's you're only goal, I'd suggest making the drive down to the Apishapa Trailhead and taking the short quarter-mile hike to the dike we saw.

At the trailhead, we piled into Erin's 4Runner, and she drove us back to Cordova Pass. When this road was built back in the 1920's, they had to tunnel through one of the dikes, which was neat to pass through. After some lunch at the La Veta Sports Pub & Grub, we started the long drive home. West Spanish was the perfect dessert following our sensational climb of Culebra the day before. Short, but very sweet, it was nice to have visited this landmark peak, which I had been eyeing for a couple of years.