Lately I’ve been trying to incorporate more outside time whenever possible. I spend most of my life sitting at my desk/couch/bed staring at a screen. In an effort to give my mind a break, I’ve taken my leisure pursuits out into the woods. I usually don’t really get the urge to go outside until the fall, when the leaves begin to change colors. In this case, I picked too early of a time to go to Maroon Bells again, but it was still very pretty. The photos don’t do it justice as there was plenty of gold when I visit, but looking at these pictures it seems like the colors were just beginning to turn here.
A part of going into the woods is knowing your limit. Earlier this summer I fell and sprained my ankle at the beginning of a hike at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. After a few weeks, it felt comfortable enough to begin going back onto the trails. One of the trails at Maroon Bells is particularly rocky. I don’t mean mostly dirt and some rocks. As you can see in some of these photos, the entire path was just ROCKS. Very unstable for my ankle unfortunately so I decided to hang back and let my group go ahead of me. I hung out on a tree stump on the trail for about an hour, made friends with a volunteer USFS ranger, and gave some water to another hiker who was affected by the altitude.
This trail connects to the one that goes all the way to Crested Butte. It’s about 10 or so miles one way, and there are shuttles that will transport you back to Maroon Bells. That is a someday hike for sure, perhaps in the summer when the weather is more favorable and I can take a weekend off to do it.
Amara in Training 