Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop, CO - August 22-25

[WaffleBox]

I recently finished a long trip to Colorado and Wyoming that included two hikes - a loop through the Lost Creek Wilderness, and the Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop. This is the trip report for the latter.

Day 1

I didn't get onto the trail until about 2:30pm on Saturday. My backpack needed some minor but important repairs after the Lost Creek trip, and finding somebody in Aspen to do it took longer than I expected. I also had to pick up a bear canister and some bear spray, have a delicious lunch, then take the bus up to the trail.

I179gAgh.jpg

My goal for the day was to get as close to West Maroon Pass as I could before setting up camp. I had been told that there were no trees in between West Maroon Pass and Frigid Air Pass, and that it's best to try to be over passes before ~noon, so going over West Maroon Pass on the first day wasn't an option.

I don't really have anything notable to say about the trail itself. I'll let the pics speak for themselves. The trail was pretty crowded until Crater Lake, then pretty much empty with some exceptions I'll discuss later.

fWq8OY7h.jpg

hyirOzNh.jpg

4jomDXth.jpg

TOlNiBuh.jpg

kFqB4cUh.jpg

SlW2CPWh.jpg

yV9XTvth.jpg

CZCxMaih.jpg

It's a pretty spectacular place.

The local wildlife seemed pretty friendly. Shortly after I finished setting up camp, two deer wandered into and around my camp. I couldn't get toooo close to them, but they stayed nearby for about 45 minutes.

iIH8h0hh.jpg

I set up camp near a group of 4 guys in their twenties who were from all over the country, but all places that are very close to sea level. One of them was feeling very sick due to the altitude. They also burned through fuel much more quickly than they anticipated, and didn't have enough left for the 4 days they planned to spend on the trail. They kept coming over to my camp to ask advice about what they should do. I think they assumed that because I was alone, I must know what I was doing. Lol. They ended up deciding to hike back to the trailhead the following morning.

Here's a pic of my camp.

Izkrh6kh.jpg

[SGT Rock]

Very nice.

[ufdigga]

Subscribe. Fantastic pics! Looking forward to doing this loop soon.

[Otter1]

Glad you saw such great scenery.

Great trip.

[Bannerstone]

Seriously! Bear canister? Is that a recent development? I was there this time last year and we didn't have any sense of bear activity.

David

[WaffleBox]

Seriously! Bear canister? Is that a recent development? I was there this time last year and we didn't have any sense of bear activity.

David

Yes bear canisters are now required by the Forest Service for camping in the Maroon Snowmass Wilderness, and camping in the designated spots around Crater Lake is closed due to bear activity. I think the phrase used on the signs around the lake was "daily bear conflicts."

I think I agree with the requirement, for reasons you'll learn about when I do my "day 2" post

[MAD777]

Great pictures! Maroon Bells is probably the most jaw dropping place I have ever hiked. It was 1981. I still have that scenery embedded in my memory. Thanks for the report!

[WaffleBox]

Day 2

hq2XH2Zh.jpg

Day 2 was a long, hard day. It started out with a fun surprise - some animal (most likely a porcupine according to the park rangers) came into my camp at night and ate my hat along with most of the handle of my trekking pole, both of which I had left outside the area covered by my tarp. Fortunately it didn't come under my tarp and munch on my pack. Apparently whatever it was was after the salt that had soaked into the gear from sweat.

After packing up, it was time to tackle the first and easiest of the passes - West Maroon Pass. There were a looooot of people on top of the pass. It's apparently really popular to do a day hike from the "East Fork of West Maroon" trailhead to the top of West Maroon Pass then back to the trailhead. After getting over the pass, the crowd dropped to nearly nobody for the remainder of the trip.

bJo6UhZh.jpg

NKpNLrBh.jpg

lv83mDBh.jpg

ZkeqgInh.jpg

The first pic is the approach to the pass, followed by two pics from the top of the pass, followed by the descent from the top of the pass. I should point out that all four passes are ~12,500 feet in altitude.

The valley in between West Maroon Pass and Frigid Air Pass was beautiful. As I had been warned, there really weren't any trees there. If you are in that valley and are desperate to set up your hammock, you can go down the trail toward the trailhead I mentioned a moment ago and eventually you will get to some trees, but they are quite a ways out of the way from the 4 pass loop trail.

There were a few patches of snow left over from winter. Living in Florida, I had to take the opportunity to get a pic of myself next to snow, though I didn't touch it because I hate cold.

FKvDDMoh.jpg

v4aCUyph.jpg

NkGCFzfh.jpg

The hike from West Maroon Pass to Frigid Air Pass was relatively short and relatively flat, aside from the ascent/descent immediately near the passes. The last bit of the ascent up Frigid Air Pass was probably the steepest, most dangerous bit of climbing on the whole trail. The trail was very gravelly, so slipping and falling was a real concern. At the top of the pass, you get treated to some more stunning views.

lk8TOMFh.jpg

jk40tUoh.jpg

71FAnMlh.jpg

I met a very nice guy named Jeff on top of Frigid Air Pass, where I had stopped to have lunch. He stopped and chatted for a bit, then went on his way. After descending from Frigid Air Pass, the trail descends for the next several miles. This was a nice break after climbing two steep passes earlier in the day, but I paid for it the next day when I had to regain all that elevation on the way to the next pass.

8Xkcknah.jpg

48P7tSCh.jpg

68iLXAJh.jpg

WJpHcpdh.jpg

The last picture was taken near the site of a beautiful camp. It was right on the creek, surrounded by beautiful trees, and had the sound of that great waterfall in the background. It was a rather large waterfall, though the pic doesn't make it look that way. But I got there are about 4pm, and I wanted to try to camp as close to Trail Rider Pass as possible so that I could make sure to get over it before noon the next day (though so far the weather had been impeccable at all times).

I continued on for a couple more miles. There is a knee-deep stream crossing at one point in this valley - the only time I had to get wet while doing a water crossing. Such crossings are probably more common in the spring and early summer while the bulk of the snow is still melting. The campsites, however, kept getting worse and worse, and further away from water. I really wanted to camp near water, because I use it for making both dinner and breakfast.

Eventually I turned around and went back to a site I had passed earlier that wasn't great, but worked. I set my pack down and started to walk around the site to pick out my trees when I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. I freak out and turned to look, and it was a deer up on the side of the hill having dinner. I interpreted his calm to mean that he felt safe and there was nothing scary around. I went back to picking out trees, and after picking I decided to go watch the deer for a bit before setting up.

At that point, a black bear walked right by the deer, about 150 yards from me. I heard myself saying "That's an actual ****ing bear." I turned around, put on my pack, and started hiking as fast as I could back in the direction I came. I ended up back at the beautiful spot I had forgone earlier in the day, and set up there. I convinced myself that bears can't cross rivers (though this is obviously completely untrue) and that I was safe. I also found that Jeff, the guy I met earlier in the day, had set up camp there. So I felt much better.

Needless to say, taking pics of my hammock setup did not cross my mind that night.

[VerticalX]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing your trip.

[Bannerstone]

I had a porcupine incident in that general area too, I chased one off that was chewing on my coffee mug, he went right for my hiking poles, stubborn guy. He went downstream and hit all the other sites like it was his job. That area felt very much like bear habitat to me, the steep wooded hillside that bordered the creek just had such good cover, it gave me an uneasy feeling.

David