This weekend we hiked from Crested Butte to Aspen and back. For the sake of getting more photos on the page, I made them smaller - hope the effect is as dramatic as it was when I was taking them...let me know if you would like to see the originals...
The first day we hiked over East Maroon Pass in the Maroon Bells/Snowmass wilderness. The trail head is just north of Gothic, which is almost a ghost town about 8 miles north of Crested Butte.
This description of the hike is from the forest Service site, but we also hiked an additional half miles from the lower trail head:
Length: 14 miles one way (22.5km) Difficulty: Difficult
Trail Use: Heavy
Beginning Elevation: 9,580 (2920m) Highest Elevation: 11,800 feet (3596m)
Notice there is no mention of creek crossings...!
We left the truck at the trail head and started out...realizing after a very short space of time that we hadn't brought our water shoes and that we had to cross the creek more than once on the way up...! 
Here I am getting ready to cross for a least the sixth time, after Nick went first and went in...here he is with wet feet...we make a good team - I learn from his mistakes!!!
Here I am getting ready to cross for a least the sixth time, after Nick went first and went in...here he is with wet feet...we make a good team - I learn from his mistakes!!!
Judd Falls is the first notable site...and then the trail heads up...
After climbing for 4 and a half miles (very steeply at times) - you may not be able to tell from this photo, but it was VERY steep!!! - we ended up at Copper Lake. There were some great camping spots, so we will have to put it on the list for future back pack trips...
From Copper Lake we headed up and over East Maroon Pass at 11,800 feet...the pass was to the right of the one in the Copper Lake photo to the left... and very glad we were too that most of the climbing was done for the 
day!
day! 10 miles to go, and almost all down hill!!!
That's why I'm smiling so much here as I reach the top of the pass!
Here's Copper Lake from near the top of the pass...
The views from East Maroon Pass were gorgeous. We came across a pack horse group who were out for 7 days...(judging by the amount of gear they had, they were eating and drinking well!)...they said the rain had been torrential the day before (it had looked ominous from Crested Butte) so we kept our fingers crossed and headed down towards Aspen and a cold beer...!!! (Funny how that seems to be a recurring theme in these blogs...bet there's a burger in there somewhere too....)
This is the East Maroon Creek Valley heading towards Aspen...I think Nick has it chalked up to go back and fish there one day - the valley was beautiful, but the creek was just perfect...gotta be lots of pesky trout in there just ripe for the catching...
I may have an issue with camping up there though...the bear that left this foot print in the middle of the trail was obviously a good size...
And this view is where East Maroon and West Maroon meet
We arrived at the trail head in Aspen about 7 hours after we left...the hiking comments we had pulled off the Internet said we may be able to flag a bus down on Maroon Lake Rd so we hoped we hadn't missed the last one as the road is closed to all other traffic....fortunately we found a very civilised bus stop with a bench...and shortly thereafter a bus came by and stopped...very handy!!!
The ride down into Aspen didn't take long and we checked into our (very expensive) hostel...laughed at the room which cost us over $100 for the night, showered and headed out to explore town (and grab that cold beer...)
Dad thought you'd appreciate this one...the view is a little better than the one from KC Stadium!!!!Dinner in Aspen was very nice. We met some people Nick knew from Crested Butte, who also have a home in Aspen, Todd and Doreen. They treat us to a lovely meal at Rustica...the steak was delicious, the risotto and crab cakes were out of this world and the company was more than agreeable...a bit of an improvement on our usual burger and pitcher of beer!!! Thanks Todd - it was great!
The night took a turn for the worse when we got back to the hostel though...our room had a potent "very sweaty sock/wet dead dog/stinky blue cheese" smell to it which we hadn't really noticed in the few minutes we had been there earlier...but we managed to fall asleep in our single/twin beds. Then the guy next door (if the plywood panel separating the rooms could justify the term "next door") proceeded to have an argument with his family on his cell phone at 1 in the morning...they finally made up and he said he need to go to bed...we heaved a sigh of relief...then his phone rang again...Yankee doodle dandee or something equally annoying at 1.45 in the morning...and it was obviously a long lost friend..."Hi how ARE you?" ' Yeas, I'm great" etc etc...I'd had enough...got up, knocked on his door, and aked him to hang up!!!! Which, surprisingly, he did...sigh of relief, back to sleep...NOT! His room mate came in and they proceeded to gossip about their day...we may as well have booked a dorm room each -it would have been cheaper and certainly no noisier...
After a semi sleepless night, we decided spending another night in the place was not an option so we left the next morning to hike back and decided to save the extended tour of Aspen for later in the autumn when it's hopefully cheaper and we can rent a real hotel room for not much more! The sign in the hostel said the buses started running at 8 so we left a little earlier to try and hitch a lift up...and just missed a bus..apparently they start at 6...hmmm...not such a good start. We arrived at the Maroon Lake shuttle stop to find a hand written note taped to the post stating that the buses wouldn't start until 12 at the earliest today as it was the Aspen triathlon and the one day of the year the road was closed....hmmm...not such a good start.... Sure enough the road was closed to all traffic...well let's walk we said..."how far is it?" we asked a race official: "8 miles".
ACK!!! On top of the 11 we have to walk to get to the trail head on the Crested Butte side and then the 8 down the road back to the car...definitely not a good start. Fortunately Walter (in the t-shirt), Archie and George came to the rescue. Walter, who works for the Aspen police dept, was heading up the road to check on the race...he kindly gave us a lift all the way to the trail head and saved the day...don't think we could have stood that smell for another night...or listened to the phone calls of the guy next door...
This time we were heading over West Maroon Pass. we had been told it was more difficult than East Maroon, but also shorter and prettier. The forest service description is:
Length: 11 miles one-way (17.7 km) Difficulty: Difficult
Trail Use: Heavy
Beginning Elevation: 8,709 feet (2655 m) Highest Elevation: 12,500 feet (3810 m)
USGS Map(s): Maroon Bells, Snowmass Mtn.
Trail Use: Heavy
Beginning Elevation: 8,709 feet (2655 m) Highest Elevation: 12,500 feet (3810 m)
USGS Map(s): Maroon Bells, Snowmass Mtn.
One of the first sites is a perfect frame of the Maroon Bells from Maroon Lake...things were looking up...
and then there was a bit of a log jam in Crater Lake...plenty of driftwood there to keep you warm for the winter!
The trail wound up the valley, pretty steeply in places...but the views were worth it again...the Maroon Bells range was in sight on our right the whole time we were hiking...
As we veered to the right around Bellview Mountain, the pass came into view...
"Holy s*** we have to climb up there?" was the general reaction....or mine at least...Nick is still looking pretty happy about it all...you can't see from this photo, but we could actually see that there were people at the top...they must be mad!
Forty minutes later, there we were...it was one of the hardest climbs I have ever done...maybe I over did it on the risotto, steak, chips (french fries), profiteroles and wine last night (thanks Todd, it was delicious!)
The wind was howling at the top, so we bundled up and found some shelter so we could have a snack before we headed down towards Schofield Pass and Gothic (yeah...downhill!!!)
Here we are on the other side - hard to believe we were that high up on the photos above...the rock behind Nick (above) is the tower to the left above my finger on this photo...
Coming down to Gothic, the flowers were just gorgeous...we had heard they were amazing and were hoping to catch the tail end of them...we weren't disappointed...though the photos don't do them justice. The mountain side was just a wave of white, yellow, orange and blue.
Coming down to Gothic, the flowers were just gorgeous...we had heard they were amazing and were hoping to catch the tail end of them...we weren't disappointed...though the photos don't do them justice. The mountain side was just a wave of white, yellow, orange and blue.
We also passed a couple of ruined cabins for good measure to add to the atmosphere...
Even the view from Schofield Pass when we finally got back to the trail head was lovely...now I have to add the hike over to Crystal and Marble to my list!
Here we are at the end, 11 miles and five or so hours later...the tired eyes are a result of our neighbours last night, and the smiles are in anticipation of the cold beer and burger that awaits at the Avalanche, home of the world famous (well, Playboy famous) Avalanche Warning rum cocktail and my current place of gainful employment. I think Nick had a half pound burger with bacon, cheese, jalapenos and guacamole...hungry business this hiking lark... And fortunately we didn't have to walk the additional 8 miles over Schofield Pass to Gothic. We managed to hitch a lift about a mile down the road (once we had climbed over the pass at 10,ooo and odd feet of course)...with some people from Crested Butte. They had a friend in the car who was visiting from Philadelphia...he happened to be English...and his sister lives in Hull and works for Social Services...so she no doubt knows my Dad...what a small world we live in!!!
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