We've been following the Colorado itenerary my friend Peter gave us, and next up was a jaunt down to hike Maroon Bells (the most photographed peaks in the Rockies).
Here you can see the peaks above Maroon Lake, and the beautiful clear sky
Mid hike, looking back on Maroon Lake
On the advice of the forest ranger, we took the Crater Lake hike. By the time we got to Crater Lake, it was snowing, and still beautiful
Ohh, and btw, there was still about a foot of snow on the trail. Really glad we bought those waterproof hikers.
Just beyond Maroon Bells, on the way to Independence Pass, we visited some ice caves recommended to us by some fellow hikers at Crater Lake. These ice flow caves are beautiful, and easy to reach, though hard to climb back out of. Both of us ended up using the butt-sled-hope method to explore this little delight.
If you hold on to the rocks, sometimes you can stand up long enough to take a picture
Independence Pass had just opened 6 days before we traversed it. You can see why. I wouldn't want to be this plow driver, moving several feet of snow on mountain switchbacks (we saw two avalanches being cleared while traveling the pass). On the road, you drive higher than the tree line. Between the white clouds, snow, and lack of much else, it looks like you're driving into the sky.
The high point on Independence pass is the highest point where you can cross the continental divide in a car. (Continental Divide, essentially the ridge back on the US, water flowing west off the mount reaches the Pacific, east, the Atlantic)
No comments:
Post a Comment