Conejos Peak

Route: Standard ish
Posted On: 6/7/2025, By: cloudkicker
Info: Close to summer conditions, looked very similar to Kwhit’s conditions in the Orphans of Conejo County TR. Started at Saddle Creek trailhead to save some drive miles and avoid that sketchy last section up to Tobacco TH people moan about . Hiked the Saddle Creek trail for 0.5 miles before I turned off and up into the forest at 11,4. Easy bushwhacking up to treeline. Reconnected with Tobacco Lake trail at 11,800. The two snowfield crossings above the lake were short and low angle. I put microspikes on for a few minutes before realizing they were overkill. Almost all snow on the ridge up to the summit is avoidable. Summit register placed by Kiefer and Regina on 2022 is still going strong. I tracked 5.9 miles and 2200ft with the Saddle Creek trail start. The variation was worth it imo. 

Route: From Tobacco Lake Trailhead
Posted On: 6/8/2025, By: zrsimpson
Info: Conejos Peak from Tobacco Lake trailhead has patchy snow at first, then it's clear. If you're headed to Conejos, you won't be able to do the route described by WildWanderer and others due to snow and a lot of cornicing above the route. You'll need to hike north from Tobacco Lake and ascend the northern end of the ridge between Conejos and a 12er. There you'll find a snow-free area that will take you to the saddle on the north side of Conejos. 

Route: Tobacco Lake Trailhead
Posted On: 8/16/2024, By: JasonKline
Info: Summer conditions on Conejos and 12513. No snow or ice. As others have said, the road up to the Tobacco Lake trailhead is easy 4WD but not for passenger cars. Any vehicle can make it to the nearby Lake Fork Campground. 

Route: From Saddle Creek/Tobacco Lake
Posted On: 5/28/2024, By: HikerGuy
Info: Unlike Bennett Peak which is high and dry, Conejos is holding quite a bit of snow. Tobacco Lake is still frozen over. No gear needed other than microspikes. Road is clear and dry to Saddle Creek TH. 5.38 miles and 2,167 feet. 

Route: Canon Rincon (#722) up, Tobacco Lake (#719) down
Posted On: 9/5/2023, By: IHikeLikeAGirl
Info: Highly recommend this loop (~9 mi). Nice and gentle when you want an easy day. And you get to see lots and lots of cows (and cow patties)...if that's your thing. Parked at the switchback for Canon Rincon trail. Lot was overflowing with mostly bow hunters. 7-10 vehicles were parked along the road. Upper lot (for Tobacco Lake trail) had only 2 cars there, plenty of room for more. Easy 4WD or AWD road, just rocky and a little tedious. 

Route: Tobacco Lake Trailhead
Posted On: 7/18/2023, By: pmodell
Info: My son and I summited yesterday. There is trail all the way to the summit, though we lost it a few times. We crossed one snow bank just above the lake (100 ft at 20 to 30 degrees). We kicked-in a path, but spikes would be better. We hiked around three or four other snow banks. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 7/5/2023, By: astranko
Info: Trailhead is not suitable for passenger cars anymore. We parked ~1mi low and it was pretty hairy getting there and back in an Impreza. Park at the intersection of 105 and 100 unless you're bold. Someone made it a bit closer in a Forester. Saw an AWD Elantra at the TH but they popped a tire getting in. Deadfall in the trees, but nothing too bad. Melting, intermittent snowfields near treeline. Dry or low angle snow to the top. 

Route: Saddle creek tr ascent, Tobacco lake trail descent
Posted On: 7/5/2023, By: SnowAlien
Info: Awful, very stressful drive, took forever. Apparently, the forest service did improve the road to the Saddle creek TH (past 100/105 intersection), so clearance is not an issue, but the road is still littered with small sharp rocks, so I gave up about 0.5 mile from the TH - was nervous about puncturing a tire in the middle of nowhere, very stressful. A sedan made it to the Saddle creek TH, but had a blown tire. The hike by comparison was smooth and pleasant. Saddle creek trail is in good shape, deadfall is minimal, and easily gains the dry east ridge. Descended the north ridge into Tobacco lake (lake looks like a smoke pipe from the east ridge), this route had more snowdrifts and snow patches. 

Route: Rincon and Tobacco Lake Trails
Posted On: 5/31/2022, By: supranihilest
Info: An inch or two of snow overnight Sunday didn't make this peak any more difficult. We started at the Rincon trailhead (unmarked trailhead at the hairpin turn on the road) and after a half mile or so went straight uphill to the Tobacco Lake trail, which we followed to the summit. The trail is obscured by snow at times and there's some deadfall but overall this is a very easy hike. We added on Point 12,555 and went down the Rincon trail. No snow gear was needed despite the fresh snow, and trail runners were fine. 

Route: Saddle Creek
Posted On: 6/20/2021, By: hr011242
Info: Some snow above 12k. Didn't use traction because the sections were relatively short and mellow. If you elect for a more direct/off trail approach, it's a little swampy right now. Otherwise it's an easy, delightfully uneventful hike! 

Route: Standard
Posted On: 7/31/2020, By: Above_Treeline
Info: I didn't summit but there's not a lot of info about this mountain so I thought I'd do a report. Also tobacco lakes TH doesn't seem to have a listing on here, so that type of info in this report as well. Still some snow up there but I doubt you'd run into it getting to the summit. Looked fairly easy but clouds, rain , and lighting came up about the time we got to the lake, unfortunately. Trail seemed fine for the most part. Like summitpost says, be sure to go right on the less-traveled trail that turns to go up to Tobacco Lake at about 1+ miles. But I didn't for a bit until I realized my mistake and enjoyed the meadows a bit longer :) it's mostly pretty open there though. We went up from Antonito, via 17 and FS 250 to FS 105. FS 250 is a good gravel road, 20-30+ mph but FS 105 gets worse and the last 2-3 miles are difficult in a 2wd car, took about half an hour on the way down. Clearance would be a big plus and make things easier. We reset the odometer after turning onto 105 per the excellent summitpost page on this peak. Also got a lot of info off the TR here. I'd really recommend looking at both pages. At 4.2 miles go left, 7 miles 2wd parking (sort of, not a real lot) then go about half a mile, past the first parking (?) area + road to left to the one with a sign that has the regular trail more or less from the parking lot. Gorgeous area!!! Hard to get too upset about not summiting after hiking here. Might be a great place to take friends & family who don't want to hike to the summit, not too hard to get to Tobacco Lake, might be able to hang out there.. Also looking at a map you might be able to summit from Twin Peaks TH on the switchback at mile 6 instead of going to Tobacco Lake TH. 

Route: Standard
Posted On: 10/5/2014, By: ChrisinAZ
Info: This is actually for Bennett, Conejos, and Summit peaks in the southern San Juans. Short version: everything‘s still accessible! All three low-clearance 2WD-accessible trailheads (standard on Summit, 11200‘ on Conejos, 1/2 mile below Blowout Pass on Bennett) are attainable in a car, with 99.9% of the roads clear of snow, and the remainder a non-issue that will probably melt in the next few days. Conejos--a bit of snow/mud from the start, and if you go up the Tobacco Lake route, there‘ll be more of it, but generally no more than a few inches. Coming around from the SW, terrain is pretty clear once you hit treeline. Summit--I gave up trying to find the faint trail, and just headed up a grassy gully that was free of snow, then encountered patchy snow 1-3" deep (deeper in a few spots) above there. The south slopes of Summit melted out very noticeably in just half a day, and were mostly snow-free by the time I got there. Spectacular views right now with the snow on surrounding peaks! Bennett--following the road to Blowout Pass and beyond, there‘s minimal snow but a decent bit of mud in spots. The south and west faces are essentially snow-free. Headed straight down from the summit back to the car, which took all of 35 minutes. Overall--there‘s a bit of snow, but not enough to make things a pain. Any snow gear beyond trekking poles would be overkill, and I imagine things will continue to melt out if this sun continues. Nice fall colors at the moment--get down there if you can!