Pagosa Peak

Pagosa Peak is a 12,658-foot summit in the San Juan Mountains north of Pagosa Springs, standing in the Weminuche Wilderness and San Juan National Forest. Its striking profile makes it a familiar landmark from town, yet reaching the top is difficult. With no official Forest Service trail, hikers use an unsigned, unmaintained social path of about 4 miles that climbs roughly 2,500 feet, complicated by fallen trees, tricky navigation, a misleading false summit, and a hard-to-reach trailhead. Beyond its prominence for local hikers, the peak is also tied to the region’s volcanic past through Pagosa Peak Dacite, a pyroclastic rock derived from the La Garita Caldera.

Colorado · United States