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Well, to turn the Aspen page completely, I've made it to Maroon Bells today. Turns out the road is open, so I didn't have to sweat biking up. The weather was windy and cloudy, and so the lake was far from its usual beauty. Wasn't even worth a pic. Gray mountains, gray sky, big ripples on the surface, meh. So I've grabbed the snow shoes and hiked up the trail to the Crater lake. The plan was to get there and even past the lake, time permitting... It all went well until I reached the snowy platoe, changed and continued on snow. The unexpected problem was that the trail was completely covered, not obvious, and not many people really wanted to get their feet wet. This means hardly any footsteps and no trail markers of course. Without thinking, I followed somebody's footsteps and as it turned out diverted too far off the covered trail into the forest. When I realized that, it was kinda late to backtrack, and so I tried correcting myself based on my expectations of where the lake should be, walked some more and got to a pretty steep rocky slope about 5 stories up. Swearing, i unbuckled the snow shoes, crawled down the slope, got back on snow, walked more, got to a stone wall again, climbed, got to a rock field and started to get the feeling that I was seriously lost because I couldn't recognize the surroundings any more. I was on this trail before, but it was closer to summer with much less snow. After walking more, I finally spotted the water, got to the shore and realized that I got to the wrong side of the lake completely! And the worst part was that the "shore" was actually a wild mess of rocks and wood debris, sometimes covered with snow. It took me looong time to get to the side where the official trail ends, and at this point my feet were all wet, I was seriously tired, and there was still the question of how I'd come back. Luckily, there was a chain of somebody's footsteps there leading in the right direction. Just one. And the guy who left it was in regular shoes, so whenever he could, he would get off the snow on hard ground sidetracking in the process. So once in a while the chain would end, and so I had to stop and look around for where it would resume again. Eventually more footsteps added, the trail started to shape up, and I got back to the descending segment. Nice final hike.

Oh yeah, easily. Too bad today it's gonna last until 10pm.

And there is plenty of snow on top, btw

OK, I have 30 min to go down. Yeah, skis would be nice now.

Oh hey, there is Aspen airport in the distance...

The lifts aren't spinning, but I hear groomers somewhere. Maybe they open for a weekend?

Yeah right, I almost died with just water and snowshoes in the backpack. To carry monsters so high up would be a suicide.

What I'm concerned about are the bears. Perhaps I should just go back.

Why? I've got snow right here, lol.

There is some life over here... Engine sound not too far below. I wonder if I can get my ass kicked if they run into me. I'm way off the trail by now. Can't believe it, made a mistake, ended up too low and now have to climb a stupid diamond.

Getting cloooooser. I wonder, what color this is.

Aspen from Ute rock half way up Aspen mountain. I'm already above some snow, but the goal is to get to the real one before turning back.

Yeah, and speaking of Highlands... Really biked all the way here only because of the view from this bridge.

I'm super envious of kids that get to go to schools like this...

Back to spring

So Jeff says it was open around Memorial day last year? IDK...

It was 6:30

This is the view from top of the Smuggler Mountain trail across the city valley. Between those peaks there is a (currently closed) road to Maroon Bells, beautiful mountain lake. I need to find some time to bike up there.

Aspen in the wee hours

Wow you won't believe how burnt I got over yesterday. Everything that wasn't covered by goggles and helmet is now glowing in the dark, while ears, half of the nose, forehead and areas around eyes are completely white. People keep on suggesting vodka as a remedy, and I keep on wondering what they mean exactly: use it on burnt areas to cool them off, or just take it in to turn red all around...

82F in Glenwood Springs.

Yes, right now it's not extreme at all. I loved the width of it, just go anywhere!

With the main parking lot still packed and even overflows busy I can't find strength to leave... Oh well, one more ride on soon to be decommissioned lift 1...

I sense some hesitation here... Is that because of the sign??