Colorado Trip Report (Maroon Bells)
It feels good to get back into the swing of things. In a moment of reflection I thought I would share a few details of the trip that my wife, Amy, and I recently undertook. Colorado is easily one of our favorite places. For me, the mountains exude a sense of glory, and an understanding that I am far smaller than I make myself out to be on a daily basis. Note: that this post is very long so others can glean information as they prepare for future trips, feel free to scan and look at the pictures.
Our trip started with a three-day stay in Denver for the EFCA’s (Evangelical Free Church of America) Leadership Conference. Thanks to priceline.com we were able to stay in a great hotel for a very good price. We highly recommend the Westin at Westminster.
This was a great place to stay. Great food within walking distance and the mountains out our front window.
As an addition I have to comment on the semi-fine cuisine we experienced at Casa Bonita’s. The experience was primarily highlighted by the time we were able to spend with Pastor Dave and his family. While the food was good, the acting seemed a little off, we had a great time fellowshipping and taking in the surroundings.
After the three cushy days in Denver the real fun began. We had originally planned to hike up to the Missouri Lakes, outside of Vail, for three days and then do a four-day loop around the Maroon Bells outside of Aspen. We drove the obligatory 10 miles up the washboard gravel road to the trailhead. I am very surprised our car wasn’t shook into 100 pieces. Unfortunately, we had gotten a late start and by the time we were on the trail it was 5:45 PM, not a good thing. Three fourths of a mile into the trailhead it started to hail on us. It was a brutal assault with strong lightning and loud thunder. By the time it had finished it looked like it had snowed and the ground was flowing with rivers of hailstones. We conceded and waived the white flag and retreated to the car to lick our wounds and ask the bothersome question, “What now?” As with all men, I don’t like to remember defeats so, there are no pictures of the MO Lakes disaster… err I mean hike.
This is the classic “Barker” family vacation shot. I loved vacations growing up (they were the best), but they often didn’t go perfect. Here is Amy folding clothes after we took to long packing or packs and missed our checkout time before we headed to Aspen.
After a “planning” night in Vail, Amy felt the call to the Bells. Thus, we headed for the Maroon Bells Wilderness outside of Aspen on the Morning of July 2. I might take a moment to mention that last years bping excursion landed us in a tent for 40 hours of heavy down pour, it was quite the moral crusher. Thus, after our first failure this year the dark clouds over Aspen were HIGHLY disappointing.
Yet we made the final preparations and set out from the parking lot at about 2:00 PM. Right away you are greeted with the “most photographed” view of the Rockies (If you would spend a day here you would know that title is easily true). I think it is a combination of the asphalt access, and the beauty of these twin peaks.
You can tell by picture that the weather wasn’t the greatest. This was the last picture we took for a while due to a lot of rain.
As we got started it began to rain and lighting but we donned our rain gear and pressed on. There was a lot of lightning and we met one guy who was attempting the loop turn back and opt for a bed and a brew in Aspen. The first day’s climb was a fairly simple five miler. The climb was gentle and we did not cross any passes. Though there were two stream crossings with ice-cold water, fed by the snowmelt and I am guessing some spring water (they were flowing pretty good to be only snow). At these crossing you lose the boots and strap on the Tevas and enjoy the tingling sensation in your toes. As we hiked higher we met a lot of people who were bedded down because of the storm that we hiked through (We were still much lower in elevation than they were in the thick of the storm). Most of them were fairly close to the pass but we thought we might try to cross the first pass on the first day.
Shot of the valley as we hiked up after the weather cleared
Our first stream crossing, the water was very swift and very cold!
As a side note, one of the hikers we met was a girl named Stephanie who was on a solo (going it alone) with her dog Zion. She has an amazing story to tell about her hike. Once I get this up and posted I am going to ask her to write a guest post on this blog about her experience. We would take turns passing each other over the next several days and we ended up doing a good part of the hike within close proximity, which was a blessing for us.
On the first night we ended up camping above tree line (not recommended or smart if the weather is bad). If another storm came through we were fairly exposed and could have become crispy critters. Dinner consisted of some fresh baked garlic bread (Wal-Mart variety) and a Chicken Ramen combo that warmed the spirits. After dinner it was off to bed, which is nice at the end of a hard day but in the same stroke not near as “cozy” as the real thing.
It was Amy who spotted the flashes of light in the sky over the pass through the tent at about midnight. I did some of my best praying, more like pleading, and by grace the storm never came over the pass as I was not to excited about our safety plan in the middle of the night (throw on the boots, raingear and headlamps then make like fools for tree line). The idea of leaving the tent in the middle of the night and in the middle of a rainstorm did not sound that fun…
Sunrise at our first campsite
Day two greeted us with clear skies and a few clouds. We are slow starters so it took us a while to pack up camp. We started with a trek over West Maroon Pass. It was uneventful outside of the fact we met a trio (a husband and wife pair, plus another guy named Nate) from Minnesota. The wife had just found out she was a few months pregnant and she was a trooper! Nate often ventured ahead and would cross our paths several times in the next day. We crossed our first snowfields, which were mild compared to what would come later, but annoying nonetheless. I love to see it but I was post-holing and filled the tops of my boots with snow. Now I know what gaiters are for.
At the top of the pass a whole new view came into sight. Stephanie and Zion were there to greet us. Down the pass is a valley, Crested Butte, which is as I am told the self-proclaimed wildflower capitol of CO. It was still early in the season, thus while there were amazing flowers, we have seen better.
Columbines are our favorite wildflower. I love the three dimensional aspects of them.
A view facing West from West Maroon pass.
Frigid Air pass was only a mile and a half or so away. Regardless of whether your working the trail clockwise as we did or counterclockwise you do not descend a huge distance between these two passes like you do between the rest. The view is fabulous all the way from WM to FA. As you approach the pass you start wondering if FA pass is the gentle green place in front of you and to the left. Reality sets in when you see the path head straight up over your shoulder on the right. Our realization came when we spotted two ant-like hikers starting their descent from Frigid Air. After a very steep climb we quickly found ourselves standing on top of the pass. The view was one of my favorites of the trip. We thought this was a great place to stop and enjoy a little pita bread, tuna, mayonnaise (for Amy), and Burger King Honey Mustard (for Chris) along with all the other lunch essentials. We found, Frigid Air, to be a fitting name as it was cold. After a short hiatus a clap of thunder in the distance broke our spell of relaxation and so down we headed into Fravert Basin. There was a lot of water in this valley and a gorgeous 300 ft waterfall named King Falls. As we approached tree line the skies opened up and down came the heavy rain and hail. On we trudged, hiding from the storm once when it was at its worst. This valley headed down at a very steady pace, which was a nice break. Yet, we knew the next pass was just as high as the last so everything we lost in elevation would have to be regained at the end of the day or the beginning of the next.
This was one of my favorite views, I waited until the end of our break and unfortunately it clouded up.
View of Maroon Peak from FA, we are on the exact opposite side of the peak from when we started.
It was a couple of miles before the weather seemed to clear up so there was a temptation to attempt to clear Trail Rider Pass, but low and behold the weather decided to let loose on us again. It didn’t help that I had missed the trail and led us over a wrong stream crossing about 100 yards past the trail cut off. This ate about 30-45 minutes which was just enough time for the next thunder storm to set in. Thus it was decision time. The storm was picking up and we had a wide and fairly deep stream crossing ahead of us. Not wanting to take our boots off in the middle of the storm we opted to camp close to the stream and make up the couple of miles by getting up early the next day. At the end of day two we had hiked 7 miles. It had rained for most of the 4 mile hike to our campsite. Thus we faced our date with destiny the next day and decided that we would attempt the two hardest passes on the same day. A hike of approximately 14-miles was our goal.
Out of the bags at 5:30 AM with breakfast on the stove and the sky lightening to a beautiful blue. We got an early start and were richly rewarded for being the first ones down the trail. At 6:30ish we had hiked about 100 yards from the campsite and came the creek crossing. If we weren’t awake before the ice-cold water, we were definitely awake after. The wildlife was much more active and in the open as we ran into a variety of animals. A grouse of some sort acted as our guide and walked 20 yards in front of us for about 400 yards straight down the trail before flying off. A deer also flashed into view for about one second before dashing away.
First challenge, bright and early
Better at waking you up than the strongest cup of coffee.
As we headed up the trail we ran into many of the hikers who had pressed on ahead of us as they packed up and prepared breakfast. Everyone we ran into had ambitions of making it to the parking lot that day. The weather had taken a toll on all of our spirits. As we headed to Trail Rider Pass the going was steep shortly after the junction that breaks off to Geneva Lake. I would venture to say that this was the most challenging pass due to the sheer length of the climb to the top. At the top Stephanie and a new friend, named John and his golden retriever named Denali, from Vail greeted us after the long ascent. The last ascent up to the pass was possibly the steepest of the entire loop; at least it felt that way.
The trail up to Trail Rider
As we crested we had a great view of Snowmass Lake and we decided to take a break.
As we descended into the Lost Ramuda Basin we encountered a lot of snowfields. You could see where a lot of hikers had pulled out their sleeping pads and “sledded” down the steep slope. If I had the chance to go back I might of gave sledding a shot to save the wear and tear on the feet. As we descended we were treated with a fly by of what I am guessing to be two Air Force jets, they were moving and gave us a good boom. Seeing them fly against the background of the mountains was great. It brought out the desire to fly that every man has had who grew up in the “Top Gun” era. We soon realized that Snowmass Lake was a lot larger than it looked from the pass. We came to a place that I consider to be the most difficult part of the whole trip. There were two snowfields separated by loose rock and both were very steep. We needed to go straight across them. Since it was a very warm day the snow had significantly softened leaving more room for sliding. The trek across the fields was greatly assisted by stuffing our trekking poles as deep as we could on each step to hold us up as our feet slipped out from under us. This could have been a trip-altering problem, but at this point we both knew we weren’t turning back.
As we got to the final stream crossing before Buckskin pass our feet were hurting and the biggest driving factor to get across was the cloud of mosquitoes that started to build again. At this juncture we had caught up with John (he had left Trail Rider before us and was moving faster) and Stephanie was traveling about 100 yards in front of us. A surprise awaited us all. A very well crafted beaver dam had obliterated the “typical” course through the water. We had two options a narrow spot with very fast water or a wide spot with slower and deeper water. We opted for the latter, and as all the streams before, it was ice-cold water. It was welcomed though due to the fact that my feet hurt enough they needed a good icing. I ended up making three trips back and forth and loved every one of them.
It had started sprinkling on and off when we crossed the snowfields mentioned above, thus it appeared that we would need to move quickly if we were going to clear the last pass. Luckily for us all, Stephanie had done her homework. The trail forked and she knew the right way to go. For those of you preparing for this hike, take the first prominent left. I noticed a game trail that forked off, but you want to wait until the more pronounced trail to the left. Amy and I were grateful for this as all the reading we had done failed to mention this fork. It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to the top of Buckskin. There was thunder rumbling on the other side of the Bells so we tried to move fast. John was a great motivator here, his knowlege of the weather helped us set the pace and make decisions about advancing from time to time on the way up Buckskin. Yet, once again, the storm did not come across the range. As the four of us rested at the top the view of Pyramid Peak and the Bells was one of the best of the trip. It was fun celebrating the success of conquering the fourth pass with our traveling companions.
A view of the Bells on our final approach to the top of Buckskin.
This shot is facing NE from Buckskin. You can see Snowmass Lake if you look hard below and to the right of the main snowfield (helps if you click on the picture to make it bigger).
Looking in the opposite direction of Snowmass Lake will get you this great view of Pyramid Peak.
Amy and I were the first to head down. In essence we had a short hike down to Crater Lake and then another to the trailhead. Both seemed very long. We were greeted by many tourists who had come to the Bells for the obligatory photo shoot and that was bitter sweet, yet as good as the view is from the trail head, the combined value of all the scenery on this trip will never be rivaled by any one shot. It was a sweet glimpse of glory.
At the end of our ~14-mile day, our feet hurt something fierce though we only accumulated two total blisters (neither popped). It hurt to move in any direction and we were hungry, as we skipped lunch to save time to beat the storm over Buckskin. Amy chose Wendy’s as her first meal and I picked up some Arby’s, both tasting very good. We crashed at a Holiday Inn in Eagle and watched a few fireworks. As we watched the fireworks, I don’t know if I have ever appreciated the freedoms we have in the United States as much as I did at that moment, on the fourth of July, with my wife on one side, reflecting on the glory we had the chance to be a part of over the last three days.
On the fifth, we drove the sad drive home waving farewell to our beloved Rockies once again.
I made a short video in an attempt to share more of the pictures that we gathered along the way.
Here is our map. I have outlined our daily routes with the labeled colors. We camped at the convergence of colors and the hand made stars were our intended campsites. We were fairly close with the exception of skipping the last two, oops. This map was printed by Sky Terrain, we highly reccomend their products.
All pictures were taken with a Digital Nikon D-50 and two lenses, comment with questions if you would like more details.
