Maroon Bells: Day 4
Maroon Bells: Day 4
7/21/2022
Dem Views Camp - West Maroon Portal
Miles hiked: 3.4 mi
Elevation gained: 69 ft (11,491 - 9,631)
Animals seen: day hikers, park rangers
Elevation chart created on AllTrails.com
We slept in and it was glorious. A slow start with coffee and apple pie oatmeal (peanut butter banana for Jake) and a great view put us in a great mindset.
Jake stayed up late to take this shot of the night sky.
We took our time packing and were on the trail a few minutes past 10am. The trail was all downhill. Sometimes it was steep, others meandering, but always downward. We were passed up by the three guys who attempted summiting but they weren’t very chatty. Plenty of dayhikers heading up the pass led us to stopping frequently to let them by. They all looked very tired for it being so early in the day.
Before we knew it we were passing the spur to Crater Lake. We were flying. Adam pulled up to talk to two Park Rangers hauling some serious trail clearing gear. They asked to see our permits and inquired about food storage. We passed the test and chatted for a little bit about their jobs and bears. Adam and Jake pondered switching careers for a bit.
A little over 3 miles, just under 2 hours of hiking and we were back at the trailhead. We took the obligatory finish picture while I was attacked by a fly wanting to make out with me.
Damn fly
Mulligan picture, much better
The shuttle was packed with very clean-smelling people. I was suddenly very aware of how badly we smelled and made myself as small and compact as possible to attempt to contain the stench. It likely failed.
Back at Aspen Highlands, we collected the car and paid a painfully large amount to escape the parking lot. We turned on our cell phones and were off in search of cold beer and food smothered in cheese. 100+ missed texts, even higher amount of unread emails. Granted, a lot of the texts and voicemails were for birthday wishes, so that was lovely. Adam brought us to downtown Aspen (aka Bougie-ville) and found ourselves the Mexican restaurant. Burritos and beers were had.
Cheers! To surviving
I carb-napped on the drive back to Denver and we pulled off near Red Rock Amphitheater for a brewery stop. Conversation turned to future hiking ideas. Something without mountains, maybe some lakes, smell of pines….
The beer was good, but the music too loud and the stomachs too empty. We headed out and hit up drive thru on the way to DIA. We exchanged smelly hugs and waved goodbye to Adam. Once inside the airport, we became acutely aware of how badly we stank. We took turns changing and de-stinkifying ourselves in the bathrooms and repacked the bags for the flight.
Jake and I parked ourselves with beers at a bar and both confessed to how disappointed we were after this backpacking experience. I was so relieved it wasn’t just me. I left the HST last year feeling motivated and inspired, craving more hikes and distance and sights. This time around I was left bruised, demoralized, and over the common mentality of the accomplishment being worth the challenge. I’m too old for that, I want a trail with type I/type II fun that I can enjoy in the moment and not question whether I’d die, thank you very much.
I slept the whole flight back to LAX and found a disturbing amount of rideshare vehicles clogging our exit from the lot at an ungodly hour of 1am. We were both too tired to deal with LA’s shit. Honestly, this city lives in lines. After a very, very long travel day we made it back home, back to Leinie whom made himself so excited he had a reverse sneezing fit, twice.
See all Maroon Bells posts
Our heroes find themselves in the final stretch of the campaign and contemplating on the journey.