Abbey's Road

Well, I’m way behind in getting this posted but I’m finally trying to catch up now. For one of my last trips in Colorado the week after Labor Day I went up to Crested Butte with Tracy, Gwen and Mike. Mike and Gwen had been talking about hiking from Crested Butte to Aspen and back for quite some time and they finally got all the plans worked out. Luckily, Tracy and I were able to join them for at least part of it. Poor Abbey got left in the kennel back in Denver. I drove the RV up Friday afternoon and we found a great spot to park on the way to the trailhead. Mike and Gwen decided not to rough it the first night and stayed in town, but they came out to join us for a kickoff dinner. Mike, Gwen and Tracy all work for United, but I made them promise not to talk shop and on the whole they were pretty good about it. We got up early the next morning and drove to the trailhead. Mike and Gwen had planned to camp out on the way back from Aspen to Crested Butte so they had to carry their packs with all their gear the whole way.

Tracy had to be back to work and I had to get back because my brother, John, and his wife, Patty, were coming to Denver for the week so we were spared the heavy packs. We had an absolutely perfect fall day for hiking. The aspens hadn’t quite started to turn yet, but it was still beautiful. The West Maroon Pass trail passes through the Maroon Bell Wilderness and skirts around Maroon and North Maroon Peaks. It’s normally a very popular trail but it actually wasn’t that crowded. It’s the shortest distance between Crested Butte and Aspen – about 10.5 miles on foot, and then a 15 minute bus ride into town. By car the shortest drive is over 100 miles and takes 3-4 hours, and the scenery just isn’t quite the same.

We didn’t exactly rough it, though, as we stayed in a nice little hotel in Aspen. I was a bit worried given the price seemed way too affordable for Aspen, but the hotel turned out to be really nice.

The next morning Mike and Gwen took a different trail and headed to Conundrum Hot Springs and an overnight campout. After carrying those packs I’m sure the hot springs felt great. Meanwhile, Tracy and I caught a cab back to the trailhead and headed back the way we came. This time we got to see the Maroon Bells in the morning light, which was pretty spectacular. The hike didn’t take as long the second time around, and the weather was just as gorgeous. Funny thing was that we saw a rainbow leaving Crested Butte just before we made the long drive back to Denver.

John and Patty flew in on Sunday afternoon, but I didn’t see them until Monday. They made the trip because Patty had a conference to go to and John just came along for the ride. Unfortunately, I kept forgetting my camera so I didn’t get any pictures of them or the sights we saw. I did get to take them to Boulder, Breckenridge, Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and a few other places. I think they’d agree that the Garden of the Gods was the highlight as far as scenery is concerned. I hadn’t seen them in nearly 2 years so just spending time with them was the highlight for me. I think they liked the area enough that they might even come back to visit me once I move back in the winter. They left on Friday morning and I hung out a little while longer before heading up to Jackson on Sunday. More on that later.