Collegiate Peaks \ Maroon Bells, 8/28/2009-9/5/2009

We hiked up 2,000 vertical miles within 2 miles to arrive at our first campsite. This is looking at our first 14er (14,000+ ft) for the trip, from campsite one.

From our campsite we had a nice 30 ft drop down to the creek for water. This being our first day at 11,500 ft, climbing up and down this for water would take our breathe away.

As we climb up the steep shoulder of Mt. Belford this is looking back down the valley that we came up during the morning.

In a cruel and unusual way, the trail takes you up to a ridge 50 yds or so from the summit. The view was fantastic though.

Yes, I am trying to make a fashion statement with my legs a different color. This is called shaving weight everywhere I can. Only brought one pair of legs for all pants.

From the summit of Mt. Belford you can clearly view the trail leading up to Mt. Oxford, our second 14er for the day. We had to drop a quick 700ft and wall across the ridge then climb back up to reach the summit.

Fantastic views from the top of Mt. Belford. I thought the alpine lake nestled among the peaks was quiete beautiful.

From the summit of Mt. Belford, Mt Oxford looks like it might get some rain. Most days we had to make sure we were off summits or passes before the afternoon thunderstorms.

This is looking at the trail leading to Mt. Oxford. You can see where the trail drops down the side to reach the ridge for Oxford, pretty steeply

I was attempting to give you some perspective to the steep terrain that we had to go down (and eventually come up). Tom is leading the way, since I like to stop and take pictures (or a break!)

This is looking in one direction from the ridge we going across while going to Mt. Oxford.

Looking over the same direction as from Belford. The mountain ranges just go on forever.

Not sure if the sun was just hitting this rock differently or the angle of our view, but I thought the interesting rock color on one of the peaks was worth a picture.

While on the summit of Oxford I switched my lens to the 300mm and zoomed in on the lake.

From Oxford, looking over at the Belford summit you can see other people who have made the summit.

As you can tell we are in the Collegiate Peaks. This is looking out at Mt. Harvard, another 14er from Oxford's summit. Very beautiful mountain that I will have to summit on another trip.

If you look closely at the rock next to my right foot you can see the official marker for the summit of Oxford.

From Oxford's Summit this is looking at the trail and the 700 ft climb that is ahead of us before it is down hill the rest of the way to camp.

As we are halfway across the ridge heading back up I saw this alpine meadow with the clouds and ranges in the background.

The last trip with this tent. It has held up well the past eight years, but it is time for retirement.

His first trip with his new tent. Seems to have held up well.

Now that we have climbed up this mountain, the picture takes on a different perspective. Check out the switch backs at the bottom right of the image. Most of the trail up was like that and steep.

We were quite disappointed that we did not really see any wildlife, so every now and then in these pictures you will see what I mean.

We could not think of what else it might be. I can't imagine anyone living there with the 2 mile, 2,000 vertical foot climb to get to it.

Closer view of the switchbacks leading to the summit of Belford. Using my new 300mm zoom lens.

As we left the Collegiate Peaks and headed towards the Maroon Bells, we stop to get some pictures of Elbert and the lake at the foot of the mountain.

Nice not to have the pack on and at a lower altitude.

We had to drive over the pass (and the Kia Rio barely made it. The clouds were just awesome on this day.

As we begin our ascent into the Maroon Bells area, we looked back over the lake we walked around

The nice thing about the west is we can hang everything and it will dry within an hour. Made it easier for us to not carry so many clothes.

Most of the time we were out there it was fairly windy. I saw this waterfall up high and used the 300mm to zoom in and catch the spray being blown around by the wind.

We passed this lake on our way up to the first campsite. It was a disappointing lake because it was pretty dried up. Notice all the logs stacked up at the end of the lake. During snowmelt all that gets pulled down into the lake.

As the sun went down behind the range, I pulled in a far off peak with the zoom lens.

I do not know what kind of bird this was, but it was very beautiful and was eyeing our campsite.

With the omnious clouds in the background, I caught the silhoutte of the bird in the previous picture.

Over the course of the next four days we follow the Four Pass Trail (4 passes over 12,500 ft) circling the Maroon Bells.

Ascending towards our first pass of the day, we watched Crater Lake get farther away.

If you look between the 1st and 2nd Hump you can see others that are on the pass. Our first destination for the day.

As we got closer to the pass, we looked back over the valley we came up and saw this nice green meadow off to our right.

Looking back down the valley we came up. You can see where it drops off to our left.

Looking over the other side of the pass we were greeted with a beautiful unnamed Basin.

They do not call small areas of water in the mountains. This was beautiful little lake in the middle of the Basin.

From this view point and looking at the map, we thought that the little depression to the right of the center was going to be our next pass for the day. We were quite wrong!

Couldn't get enough of this basin. Such a beautiful and peaceful area.

Most of Basin was free of trees, but every now and then you would see a small grove growing together. Usually near a water source.

We had someone take our picture with the intention of having the mountains in the background, but she zoomed in too much. You can see how the wind was blowing by our shirts being blown out. It was quite chilly on top of the passes with the wind coming over it.

This is taken from the pass, looking down over the same meadow as a few pictures back.

A good look at the path we followed to get to the pass. Click on the larger view to see a lot more of the trail.

This gives you an idea of how steep the ridges are around the passes. The rock breaks up into smaller rocks as they tumble down into the basin.

There was not a lot of room on the pass, so as people began arriving it got crowded. The wind was really blowing some Tom found a nice wind breaker for leaning against and snacking.

Obviously, this chipmunk has broken into his share of packs.

I know, not that again. Well, I was impressed, what can I say.

As we dropped 2,000 feet to the trail junction that leads up to Frigid Air Pass we decided to have lunch and bask in the sun and enjoy the view.

Let's just say I was quite disappointed when the trail made a sharp right instead of going up the nice easy slope we thought was Frigid Air Pass. As soon as we took the right, we had to climb an extremly steep slow to the pass.

Neat how the ridges surrounding the Bells caused this blurry look.

The Bells are behind me and what you do not see are the storm clouds behind Tom taking the picture. We only got to stay up here for a few minutes. Don't want to be caught on the passes during lightning storms. As we found out earlier in the week, the lightening is intense.

This was a very impressive lodge. The beavers definately lived a happy life out here. We saw plenty of there work throughout the trip.

This was the hardest pass to reach. Very steep and long terrain to reach the point this picture was taken. You can I still had a long way to go. Around the lake and up to the left of this picutre is the pass.

You can see the last steps of the trail before reaching the pass.

You can see how cold the wind made it on the pass. The dark tint on my face is not dirt, just 5 days of not shaving!

One of the most beautiful and pristine lakes we have visited.

The pictures took previously looking up at the pass were taken on the other side of that lake.

We dropped out packs to shed off some of the layers. As we descended from the pass we began to warm up.

The lake just got more magnificent as we got closer.

Before we packed up from lunch and headed down to the lake we took lots of pictures. Here Tom is wrapping it up.

The top right peack is the top of Snowmass Mountain. We were going to attempt this 14er, but I was pretty wiped out and Tom did not like the look of the scree field, so decided to enjoy the scenary instead of fighting it.

At least we already had camp setup, but it was a false alarm and we only got some sprinkes.

Late in the day a group was coming over the pass. They were lucky the storm clouds just rolled over us. If you look just to the right of center you can see them on top of the pass.

Memorizing his lines as well as being prepared for any rain.

They do not have Blue Jays out west, but Gray Jays. They have the same nasty attitude as the blue ones.

Don't know the name of this mountain, but really enjoyed seeing the early morning sun hit the peaks.

This is my favorite picture. I took a bunch like this, but decided that I liked this one the best. I actually printed and framed this picture.

I thought this was a great picture with the reflection of the cliffs that went straight into the lake.

The stillness of the lake offered us ample pictures of the beautiful scenery around the lake.

This guy knew what he was doing. There is about a 4 ft difference from one side to another and it was curved perfectly in order strengthen it against the spring snow melt.

The flooded meadow, framed in by the spruce trees with the maroon colored cliffs provided an excellent picture.

This was the last pass and the last time we were going to be at 12,500 feet for this trip. The wind had died down a bit and we had plenty of time to rest and relax on the pass.

I thought that this looked really neat in comparison to most of the rock passess that we climbed over. If you look closely you can see a backpacker making the last stretch to the top.

This is part of the trail that we traversed while ascending to Buckskin Pass.

Some days the clouds were omnious, others were magnificent. I really enjoyed seeing the cloud shapes over the mountains.

Yes - that is a beard (Tom mentioned it was quite scruffy), No - that is not a beer belly (I actually lost 8 lbs on the trip), Yes - the wind is blowing as usual and Finally, Yes that is the Maroon Bell in the background.

On our last day\night in the mountains we camped at the front end of Crater Lake. The next 8 pictures are from the lake looking up at the clouds building and the peaks surrounding the lake.

Believe it or not we had a couple of short hail storms and just a few sprinkles throughout the entire trip.

There were plenty of snowfields throughout this trip. The temperatures during the day were quite comfortable, probably around 70, but the mornings were definately cool, around 40.

I have always loved walking through and seeing these trees.