The Madden Family: 40!

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

40!

John and I hiked from Aspen to Crested Butte and back to Aspen for a special 40th birthday trip. It was so nice to get away for 5 days and 4 nights. The hike was challenging but we got to see some of the most beautiful scenery in Colorado. Many, many thanks to the Terena and Pat for taking the kids while we went on our excursion. We are so lucky! We started with a beautiful drive over Independence Pass into Aspen. We stayed in Snowmass and then got an early shuttle to the Maroon Bells trailhead. We spent two nights in Crested Butte, and then one night in Beaver Creek on the way back home. It was quite the trip!

The Maroon Bells

Start of the hike at Maroon Lake.

Crater Lake.

The Aspen side of the hike was muddy and rocky with lots of streams and ice/snow fields and one river to cross. The cool thing about the whole hike was that we had running water near us at all times.

But it had the most beautiful views of really rugged peaks.

Summit! West Maroon Pass - 12,465 feet!

We had to haul ass down the pass because there was thunder. This was the only time it rained, so we threw on our ponchos for the first portion of the Crested Butte side.

The Crested Butte side of the trail was well packed down and along the Crystal River. We were surrounded by millions of wildflowers.

They said it was the best wildflower season in 40 years! It was spectacular.

We did it! 5 hours and 45 minutes to Schofield Park.

Just kidding. The road to Schofield Park was closed due to an avalanche, so we had to hike another 2 miles over Schofield Pass to get picked up by our shuttle, making the total 13-mile hike about 6.5 hours.

Crystal Lake was beautiful, and a great place to finish. You can see the remains of the avalanche past the lake. We were picked up just beyond the ice field.