The Roach and Dawson guides say that 2wd vehicles can drive in 2 miles, and 4x4's can generally make it an additional 2 miles. That's pretty accurate. At the 1-mile mark, the road switches from sand to rocks...big, smooth, loose rocks. As you drive up from the valley floor into the scrub, the road steepens and gets a LOT rougher. At about the 3 mile mark is the first small but steep downhill, which is where I gave up. Even with my lifted 4x4 Toyota, I decided to go somewhat conservative. I didn't want to risk damaging my truck since I didn't have spare parts and it's pretty much my only mode of transportation. For the first few miles there are plenty of turnoffs and campsites by the side of the road, so it' not too difficult to park it when you feel you've had enough, as I did.

My climbing compatriot Chris and I left Denver on 1:30 on a Friday afternoon and arrived on the Como Road around 6:00pm. We I camped out under a cloudless sky on a warm evening at around 9000 ft. Knowing we had to cover a lot of ground the next morning, we woke at 3am (yeah, 3am) for the trek. We geared up, switched on the headlamps, and begin the long, arduous trek to Como Lake in the dark. Having to hike on the Como Lake road is just as bad as driving it. As you progress up the road, it gets more and more difficult. The loose rocks give way to steep dirt and ruts, and rock shelves...at first just a few inches high, but it gets worse the higher up you go. Listen to this and believe it: if you are not equipped with a specially outfitted 4x4, including the knowedge of how to drive and fix it, you will NOT be driving all the way to Lake Como. For those of us with only average 4x4 skills, the best place to stop is at that first shelf, which comes near mile 4. It sits at a left-turning switchback, and there is parking at that spot for 3 or 4 vehicles. After that, it gets harder and harder to find a place to pull over. But I digress.

We spent about 3 hours hiking the road to Lake Como and above. For the route to Blanca, just follow the road as it curves around the left (north) side of the lake and continues upwards. Little Bear Peak looms to the southeast. The road persists until about 12,000 ft., and finally peters out into a well-maintained and well-cairned trail. Follow the trail as it passes around the left side of a prominent waterfall, and into series of basins that leads towards the saddle between Blanca (on the right) and Ellingwood (on the left). There are a number of small and picturesque lakes in this series of basins, each worth pausing at to enjoy.

You'll climb into the final cirque below Blanca and Ellingwood via the still well-cairned trail, which takes you up a series of convenient switchbacks across some small cliffs. Once in the cirque, you have look sharp for the trail, which tends to the climber's right and up towards the saddle. The trail stays just below the ridge and contours up to the summit. It's very easy to loose, so don't worry if you have to boulder-hop your way to the top...just be aware of the route you're taking, and don't get yourself into a bad situation. Chris and I climbed pretty much to the top of the ridge and stayed just below it all the way to the summit. The views over the top of the Blanca-Ellingwood ridge are incredible. I don't usually get vertigo in the mountains, but I did this day. The dropoff the other side is steep and long, and may other sharp ridges cross the valley. The view into the Huerfano valley will take your breath away.

The exact summit of Blanca is pretty small, but there are plenty of spots just a few feet below it for taking a breather. On this crisp late-summer day, there was a whipping wind blowing 30+ knots out of the west on the summit, so we hunkered down at the top, signed the register, chowed down on our standard summit meal of animal crackers and Clif bars, and discussed the trek to Ellingwood. Ellingwood is generally reached by heading back down to the saddle, dropping a few hundred feet below the ridgeline and contouring across Ellingwood's face and the up to the summit. We both came to the conclusion that the hike up the road had taken more out of us that we had thought, and since the faint trail to Ellingwood looked fairly steep, we decided to pass this time around.

The trip down was a little tougher than the trip up...downclimbing boulders tends to be. In addition, the fine layer of frost that had formed during the night had not completely thawed, so many rocks were pretty slippery. We carefully picked our way down into the basin and back down to Lake Como and that damnable road. The morning was still cool, but the farther down the road we trekked, the warmer and drier it became. It's quite the contrast, starting from the middle of a desert-like valley floor and ending up in cold alpine conditions.

About ½ mile below the lake lies a huge, ~4 foot shelf in the road. How people drive over such a thing, I have no idea. But as we approached it, we saw there was a couple of 4x4 enthusiasts trying to do just that. Down the road, there were about 6 jeeps lined up, and about 10 more came up the road as we continued down. We found out that the weekend after Labor Day (when we were there) also marks the date of an annual trip by the Albuquerque Jeep Club up the Como Lake road. There were almost 20 of them altogether, in differently rigged up jeeps and other assorted 4x4's, all creeping up this impossible road. It made for quite the sight! I made a mental note NOT to come back up the weekend following Labor Day again...much too crowded. With the exception of these folks, we had been alone on the mountain the whole time.

Wrapping things up, we made it back to the truck at 1:00, making for about 9.5 hour round trip. By 1:00 it was dry, dusty, and hot down where I had parked. We flopped down into the cab and bounced down the road, happy, frustrated, and exhausted all at the same time. We headed off into Alamosa for a quick lunch and then the 4-hour drive back to Denver.