July 11, 2016

By Tim Briese

10.2 miles, 2400’ elevation gain, 10:20 roundtrip time

The Maroon Bells/Snowmass Wilderness Area north of Crested Butte has been the favorite place the past few years for my wife Teresa and I to see wildflowers and lush scenery in the mountains. We stayed in Gunnison the night before the hike and in the morning drove north of Crested Butte over Schofield Pass to the East Fork Trailhead. At 720 we embarked up the trail with our lab Abby. It was a beautiful clear morning. We were not out to climb any peaks today, just to enjoy a beautiful place.  After half a mile or less we climbed out of the trees and were greeted by beautiful stands of wildflowers on the sunny green slopes.

columbines along the trail

The last time we were here the slopes were covered predominantly with vibrant yellow aspen sunflowers but this time the primary flowers were stately columbines. Perhaps the recent dry weather had caused the difference.

teresa enjoying a break amid the columbines

on the trail up the verdant valley

There were several other hikers on the trail, some of whom told us that they were on their way over West Maroon Pass to Maroon Lake, to take a shuttle into Aspen and back around to Crested Butte. We stopped countless times all day long to take photos and look around at the marvelous grandeur. We continued up the main trail until we reached a junction where we took a faint trail to the left that climbed up to 12,120 foot Hasley Pass. When we reached the pass we were treated to wonderful scenic views.

view to the north down into hasley basin, with snowmass mountain and hagerman peak above in the center.

view to the east from hasley pass; maroon peak is at the right

view back down at hasley pass as we began a traverse around to the east

From the pass we bushwhacked to the east around a point and continued east until we reached the main "Four Pass" trail.

a pleasant slope we traversed across

flowers along the way

our next objective is frigid air pass, which is the saddle on the ridge at top center

When we reached the main trail we went left and hiked up a steep section of the trail to 12,420 foot Frigid Air Pass, one of the four passes on this famous loop trail. It was a little windy on the pass but we sat for a while and enjoyed excellent views of the surrounding peaks.

teresa relaxing at frigid air pass.  belleview mountain is at the upper right.

there was a great view of maroon peak directly across the valley

there was also a nice view of snowmass mountain from the pass

We retraced our steps back down from the pass and stayed on the main trail for a mile and a half or so. We encountered several backpackers who were doing the loop, most of whom were going around the loop in a clockwise direction.

flowers along the trail

the lush green valley that we hiked back down

When we reached the junction for the West Maroon Trail we turned right and headed back down the valley back toward the trailhead. 

on the trail

more columbines in the afternoon sun

We arrived back at the trailhead about 540 and drove into Crested Butte for dinner.