Well, we finally made it out of Colorado after about six weeks. After spending a few days in the greater Denver area we headed west back into the Rocky Mountains.
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| We arrived in downtown Denver around 1:30 the day we were seeing the Rockies play with hopes of walking around and checking out the city park, but it was pouring rain. We ended up going to Falling Rock taproom instead, a famous beer bar near the stadium. We spotted the red disk tap handle and had our first Pliny the Elder on tap! So much for the Denver sunshine we always heard about. |
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| After a two hour rain delay, the game finally started! |
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| It was great catching up with Adam after not seeing him since 2010. |
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| Our first stop after Denver was in Leadville, CO, home of the famous Leadville 100 trail running race, a whopping 100 mile race in the high elevation Rockies. |
Our last backpacking trip in Colorado was a 4 day trip in the Elk Mountains, just outside Aspen, in the Maroon Bells Snowmass Wilderness Area. There is a famous hike here called the four pass loop, named after the four passes over 12,000 feet you have to cross. We turned it into a longer hike, what we called the five pass loop for the one additional pass. The hike was very crowded along the four pass loop but it thinned out a lot once we got off the main loop. It was roughly a 35 mile trip with some serious elevation gain along the way. The Elk Mountains are so concentrated with high peaks (7 over 14,000) that the only way to hike out of a valley is to climb over passes that were all over 12,000 feet. The hike offered stunning views and was the perfect way to end our time in Colorado.
Day 1:
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| Em hiking through a boulder field. |
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| The first day hiked upstream along the Snowmass Creek. |
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| We had to cross this cool log jam, Misha fell in a few times...what a klutz. |
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| We camped the first night at Snowmass Lake with a nice view of Snowmass Mountain in the background, a "14er" as the Colorado peak baggers like to say. |
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| Sunset over Snowmass Mountain as seen from Snowmass Lake. |
Day 2:
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| Sunrise. |
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| We started off the day with a steep hike up to our first pass, Trail Rider Pass, which is right next to Snowmass Mountain above the lake. We were packed up and on the trail at 7 am with the hopes of getting some miles in before the rain hit. |
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| The wolf dog. |
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| A view of the pass about halfway or more up. |
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| Towards the top we got our first view of the Maroon Bells peaks (the pointy ones in the very far back, center), a couple of more 14ers. These are apparently believed to be the most photographed mountains, but who knows. |
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| Em hiking up near the top of the pass. |
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| Stunning views on top of the pass, looking in the opposite direction we came up. |
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| The view of the pass from the other side once we hiked down a bit. |
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| Another view of the pass from the other side. |
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| Hiking through the wild flowers with the Maroon Bells in the background. |
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| Random waterfall along the trail. |
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| Snowmass Mountain in the far back, as seen from our approach up the 2nd pass, Frigid Air Pass. |
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| Hiking up Frigid Air Pass. |
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| Wolf Dog was the first to make it to the top of all the passes...what a showoff. |
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| The view on the other side of the pass from the top. |
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| Maroon Peak as seen from Frigid Air Pass. |
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| A view of the final pass of the day, West Maroon Pass. This one was a tough one after all the hiking we did that day. It miraculously didn't rain at all day 2 and we were able to get a full 10 of hiking in. |
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| The view of the other side as seen from the pass. Maroon Peak to the left, and Pyramid Peak to the right, both 14ers. |
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| The hike down the pass. |
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| The pass on the side we came down. |
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| Camp night 2. We had a porcupine trying to nibble on our gear in the middle of the night. |
Day 3:
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| We saw a porcupine in the morning. |
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| The valley we camped in and hiked through that morning. |
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| Hiking towards Crater Lake. |
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| Nice reflection looking towards the valley we hiked through. |
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| Hiking up to the 4th pass, Willow Pass. This was a steep climb. |
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| Getting closer, North Maroon Peak to the right. |
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| View of the pass after about 2,000 feet of elevation gain over only 2 miles of trail...still a lot left! |
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| Getting closer...you can see the valley we came up all the way down in the back. |
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| The pass. |
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| WD showing off some more. |
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| Made it to the pass, Willow Lake and the other side of the pass to the left. |
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| The route we hiked up. |
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| Enjoyed a nice cup of coffee at the pass. |
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| Hiking down. |
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| Tired dog. |
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| Camp night 3, we had a great view of Pyramid Peak in the back, it really does look like a pyramid from this angle. we saw a herd of mountain goats on the green hill in the back. |
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| The view in the other direction. |
Day 4:
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| View of the fifth and final pass, East Snowmass pass. |
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| Hiking up the pass. |
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| Made it! Now it is all downhill for 7 miles! |
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| View of our route towards the car from the pass. |
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| It rained and hailed on us for about an hour, but it was our last day and it didn't bother us too bad. |
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| We celebrated with some Casey's Brewing and Blending beer, and noticed it was bottled the day we left for the GWA! Phenomenal beers. |
