July 18, 2023

By Tim Briese

8.0 miles, 1400’ elevation gain, 6:15 roundtrip time

Teresa and I made our annual trek to Crested Butte to enjoy the wildflowers in mid July. We hiked our favorite West Maroon Trail which we had done several times before. It never disappoints.

This was my first real test of alpine hiking since my open heart surgery two and a half months before. The trail climbs to above 11,000 feet and I wasn’t sure how I would do with that elevation as well as with the distance and elevation gain of the hike. I was slower and more tired than usual but otherwise all went well.

We hoped to drive the 4WD road over Schofield Pass to the trailhead but the narrow shelf part of the road above Emerald Lake was still partly blocked by the remnants of an avalanche. Online reports from recent days said it was almost melted out and vehicles were starting to make it through. But we were spooked by the words of an official at the visitor center who told us that vehicles had to be towed out on a very narrow part of the road the day before. So we decided to play it safe and walk the road over the pass which added two or three miles to our hike.

We took off early the next morning. 

early light on our drive in on the gothic road

We hiked up the road above the lake and of course found it in much better condition than the grim, conservative official report. We could have driven the road quite easily. Oh well, it was a pretty morning to hike past the scenic lake.

emerald lake

an interesting sign at schofield pass

Several vehicles were parked at the trailhead when we arrived and we headed up the trail through the woods along the roaring East Fork of the Crystal River. After a mile or so the trail climbed up onto a lush grassy slope and continued east on a gentle grade up the valley through an immense garden of continuous wildflowers for at least a mile and a half. The flower species we’ve seen differ every year depending on which part of the flowering cycle we catch, and this year the theme was columbines. Columbines everywhere.

columbines along the trail

We strolled slowly through this flowery paradise taking photos and soaking it all in.

a dense cluster of columbines

a few other species were in bloom  in limited areas

the lush green valley of the east fork of the crystal river

Eventually we turned back as the flowers started to wane when we neared the junction with the Hasley Pass Trail. We strolled slowly back, enjoying the different angle of the sunlight playing upon the flowery scene.

other hikers enjoying the prolific columbines

Eventually we hiked back down into the trees and took a pleasant break on the bank of the river.

Vehicles were driving up and down the road now with no problem as we hiked back past the lake.

emerald lake

there were several paddleboarders enjoying the lake

on our way back down the narrow shelf road

We hiked back to our truck and drove back into town.