Brian at Maroon Bells Lake, early in the morning (this is where the trailhead starts).
It was my second-to-last week at Rocky Mountain Institute, and soon I would be heading off to the urban grind of the Bay Area to start graduate school. My housemate Brian accompanied me on one last ramble through the Rocky Mountains - in this case, a two-day ramble over West Maroon Pass, to Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, and then back the next day over East Maroon Pass. It was a long hike, about fifteen miles each way, but so beautiful that I scarcely felt tired!
Click on any picture for a full-size version.
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Brian at Maroon Bells Lake, early in the morning (this is where the trailhead starts).
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A wildflower-filled valley in the heart of the Maroon Bells Wilderness, several hours in from the trailhead.
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Blue lupine and red Indian Paintbrush.
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Although it was close to the end of the wildflower season, we were not disappointed!
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The trail approaching West Maroon Pass.
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At the top of West Maroon Pass, we enjoyed a stunning vista looking back toward Aspen (this view) and forwards toward Schofield Pass (the opposite direction, not shown here). We had a leisurely lunch perched on top of the ridge and then, heading down the other side, encountered more grasshoppers than we had ever seen in our lives before!
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We reached Gothic, home of Rocky Mountain Biological Lab, by mid-afternoon and stayed until the next morning. I got to visit my advisor-to-be, John Harte, and meet my labmate-to-be, Adam Smith... how strange to think that I would see them in Berkeley two weeks later!
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We had to leave Gothic early in the morning, because the East Maroon Pass trail is even longer than West Maroon. Here is the road approaching Copper Lake, about an hour and a half in from the trailhead at Judd Falls.
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Looking down on Copper Lake as we approach East Maroon Pass. It was getting rather stormy by this point and we felt a few raindrops - not what you want when you're near a ridgetop. But, the sky cleared, and the hike back to Aspen was beautiful and uneventful. I saw a black bear on the trail, and I'm not sure which was more startled, the bear or me!
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Last updated July 8, 2006.