South San Juans 3-Day Weekend — Bennett, Conejos & the Summit Peak Group¶
At a glance — 3-day trip
5 peaks · ~5.2 h drive
Researched: 2026-06-07
NOAA weather link: South San Juans 3 Weather
CalTopo research map: https://caltopo.com/m/AS71AEC
Status in DB: All five 0 ascents (unclimbed). These are the far southeast San Juan 13ers — the South San Juan Wilderness high points plus Bennett on the Rio Grande side.
Note: the recommended route was distilled from 36 recorded GPS tracks of real trips (14ers.com · ListsofJohn · peakbagger · Kyle's recordings) — all layered on the interactive CalTopo research map.
Other climbers: Emily Sharpe — not yet · Shawn D Keil — 3 of 5 (Summit Pk, Unicorn, The, Montezuma Pk)
Peaks covered¶
A drive-and-day-hike trip, not a backpack — three Class 1–2 climbing days (drive down the evening before), each from a car camp near its trailhead, moving camp by vehicle each night (one ~3 hr relocation from the Bennett/Del Norte side to the Platoro side; the other hop is ~1.5 hr). Hardest move Class 2, on the Summit-trio ridge.
| Peak | Day | Elev | Class | Prom | peak_db |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bennett Pk | 1 | 13,206' | 1 | 1,752' | 607 |
| Summit Pk | 2 | 13,304' | 2 | 2,736' | 488 |
| Montezuma Pk | 2 | 13,158' | 2 | 688' | 654 |
| "The Unicorn" | 2 | 13,030' | 2 | 425' | 796 |
| Conejos Pk | 3 | 13,176' | 1 | 1,912' | 633 |
Summit, Montezuma, Unicorn, and Conejos sit in the South San Juan Wilderness; Bennett is just outside it on the Rio Grande side. Summit Peak (2,736' prom, 39.6 mi isolation) is the high point of the whole South San Juan range.
Itinerary options¶
Grouped by approach, not summit proximity — the five fall into three trailheads:
- The trio (Summit + Montezuma + Unicorn) is a single Class 2 day — climbed together in every trip report (0.6–1.6 mi apart on a connecting ridge), from the Elwood Pass / Treasure Creek side.
- Conejos is its own short Class 1 day from the Conejos River Rd (FS 250/105) — only ~1.5 hr from the trio trailhead (same Platoro orbit).
- Bennett is the outlier — 15–17 mi NE, climbed from the Del Norte / Rio Grande side (FS 265), a different drainage ~3 hr by road from the others.
So it's a clean 2-zone, 3-day trip — Bennett on the way in, then relocate to the Platoro zone for the trio + Conejos (full reasoning in Other considerations).
Getting there — two zones, three trailheads¶
Drive from Boulder: 5h 10m via Google Maps to the Day-1 (Bennett) trailhead.
| Leg | Drive | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Boulder → Bennett (Day 1) | ~5h 10m / 260 mi | via US-285 S |
| Bennett → Trio camp | ~2h 49m / 57 mi | via US-160 (the basecamp move) |
| Trio → Conejos camp | ~1h 28m / 28 mi | FS 250 dirt network, Platoro orbit |
| Conejos → home | ~5 hr | via US-285 N |
Driving directions between approaches:
- Bennett Pk TH → Trio TH (Elwood Pass / Treasure Creek): directions
- Trio TH → Conejos Pk TH (Conejos River Rd): directions
The days, in order¶
The evening before — drive down¶
Boulder → Bennett Pk TH (FS 265, Del Norte side). Car camp near the trailhead.
Day 1 — Bennett Peak (Class 1)¶
- Route: standard Class 1 tundra/ridge walk; a big standalone massif (1,752' prom). Expect ~5–9 mi / 2,400–3,400' depending how far you drive the FS 265 / Cat Creek-area road (high-clearance helps; PB tracks range from a 4.7-mi high start to ~8.6 mi lower). Often combined with sub-13k Pintada/Windy/Sheep/Silver (josephnephi did a 5-peak day, LoJ 24347) — skip those to keep it short.
- Then: drive ~3 hr to the Platoro zone (see Getting there). Car camp near Elwood Pass / Treasure Creek.
Day 2 — Summit + Montezuma + Unicorn (the trio, Class 2)¶
- Route: the standard one-day loop over all three (0.6–1.6 mi apart) from the Elwood Pass / FS 380 → Treasure Creek (FR 243) area — the trip's biggest day. josephnephi (2023, LoJ 24954) and Furthermore (LoJ 1487) both did the trio in a push.
- Then: drive ~1h 28m (FS 250 network) to the Conejos River Rd (see Getting there). Car camp near the Conejos TH.
Day 3 — Conejos Peak (Class 1)¶
- Route: from FS 250 → 105 (Conejos River; "all 2WD, last 5 mi rocky, mid-clearance recommended" — whileyh). Standard Class 1 walk-up — a short final day.
- Then: drive home (~5 hr).
Camps & water¶
- Day-1 camp (Bennett): dispersed sites along FS 265 / the Alamosa River–Del Norte access; water in the creeks. Outside designated wilderness — standard NF dispersed camping.
- Day-2 camp (Trio): dispersed sites near Elwood Pass / Treasure Creek (FS 380/243); high (~11,000'+), cold nights, water in Treasure Creek.
- Day-3 camp (Conejos): dispersed along the Conejos River Rd (FS 250); reliable river water.
- All three are car-camp dispersed sites — no permits, but the climbs enter the South San Juan Wilderness (Summit/Montezuma/Unicorn/Conejos), so follow wilderness rules on the hikes (no mechanized travel, Leave No Trace).
Gear & season¶
- Best window: mid-July through September — the South San Juans hold snow late and the access roads (Elwood Pass, FS 250) open late. Afternoon monsoon storms are the dominant hazard on the exposed Class 2 trio ridge.
- Gear: standard Class 1–2 — no rope/axe/crampons in season. High-clearance/AWD useful on all three approach roads (FS 265, FS 380/243, FS 250→105); none strictly require hard 4WD to a reasonable start, but higher clearance shortens the days.
- Weather strategy: put the trio (Day 2) — the longest, most-exposed, Class 2 ridge day — on the most stable forecast day; Bennett and Conejos are shorter Class 1 and more storm-tolerant.
- Cell coverage: no 14ers.com community reception data for these summits. Geographic reasoning: all three trailheads/basins are likely dead (deep SE San Juan / Conejos backcountry); summits may catch intermittent line-of-sight toward the San Luis Valley (Bennett/Conejos, facing E) but not reliably. Carry an InReach — this is remote country with long drives between zones.
Other considerations¶
Why Bennett first, on the way in? It's the closest trailhead to Boulder, and Conejos ↔ Bennett directly is ~3h 19m / 109 mi (US-160 around) — which is why Bennett goes first/on-the-way-in rather than as a side trip from Platoro.
Trip reports & GPX (all three sources)¶
Sources confirmed logged in: 14ers.com ("Basin"), listsofjohn.com ("letsgocu"), peakbagger.com ("Kyle Knutson"). 36 GPX tracks swept across the three sources and layered on the CalTopo map (colored by source).
listsofjohn.com¶
| Date | Author | Peaks | TR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-08-17 | josephnephi | Summit + Montezuma + Unicorn (the trio) | 24954 ⭐ |
| 2011-08-26 | Furthermore | Trio + Long Trek + Grayback + Bonito (big day) | 1487 |
| 2023-08-17 | josephnephi | Conejos (solo) | 24956 ⭐ |
| 2022-05-30 | whileyh | Conejos — road/approach beta (FS 250/105) | 22206 |
| 2023-05-12 | josephnephi | Bennett + Pintada + Windy + Sheep + Silver | 24347 ⭐ |
| 2023-07-28 | IntrepidXJ | Bennett + Long Trek ("from Elwood Pass") | 25058 |
14ers.com (logged in, "Basin")¶
Peak pages exist for all five; no formal route descriptions (route beta is TR-only). GPX-library tracks layered on the map.
peakbagger.com (logged in, "Kyle Knutson")¶
Ascent GPX pulled for all five (Bennett pid 5880, Conejos 5883, Summit 5882, Unicorn 70845, Montezuma 16087) — 24 ascent tracks layered. PB isolation confirms the grouping (Unicorn 0.59 mi, Montezuma 1.56 mi, Conejos 8.1 mi, Bennett 17.1 mi).
Sources checked: 14ers.com ✓ (logged in, "Basin") · listsofjohn.com ✓ (logged in, "letsgocu") · peakbagger.com ✓ (logged in, "Kyle Knutson")