Elk Mountains 1998

Elk Mtns., CO

Mike and I spent a week in and around Aspen in August 1998, hiking three of the Maroon Bell 14ers and doing some fishing (Mike fished; I watched). The first round of pictures are available, interspersed in the itinerary below, followed by a detailed topographic map.

Mon 17 Aug 98 -- Drove from Colorado Springs through Aspen to Maroon Bell trailhead. After a short backpack to Crater Lake, we made camp.

Tue 18 Aug 98 -- Climbed North Maroon Bell, guided by Tom, a 3-timer. This was our morning view of our goal, North Maroon. A challenge even bigger than the terrain was finding the correct route. But our fearless leader kept us true to the course (for the most part) and we never pulled out a rope or harness. The second picture is on the way down N. Maroon, after the first hailstorm. The biggest challenge at this point was keeping our footing. More hail and rain and nearby lightning bolts awaited us (of course one never has a camera ready for THAT).

Wed 19 Aug 98 -- Tom & friend left. We climbed Pyramid Peak, broke camp, hiked out, and returned to Aspen.

Thu 20 Aug 98 -- Recovered in Aspen. Fished the Roaring Fork in town.

Fri 21 Aug 98 -- Recovered some more in Aspen, then headed to the Capitol trailhead, fishing Capital Creek on the way. Had a long backpack to Capitol Lake, where we made camp in the dark.

Sat 22 Aug 98 -- Climbed Capitol Peak. The view toward the Maroon Bells, looking southeast from Capitol Peak. Snowmass Peak is on the right, but you just can't quite see it.

Sun 23 Aug 98 -- Broke camp, hiked out. Fished the Creek again. Returned to Colorado Springs for fish feast with Austin, et al. Capitol Creek Road crosses Capitol Creek at 7800 feet elevation. The brown trout there are about this big; we caught these on the way in (hey, its my first fish.) Five more caught on the way out were in the same size range. They made a feast that night back in the city (I suppose anything would have made a feast by then.)

MAP
Unfortunately, this free topographical map, on the back of a free Aspen town map, shows altitude lines in meters, not feet -- thank you, O progressive Aspen. The contours are at 50 meters (about 164 feet), although the summit elevations of 14ers are given in feet. Warning, the map JPG file is big (about 200Kb). North Maroon and Pyramid (lower right on map) were approached by backpacking in from Maroon Lake to make camp at Crater Lake. Capitol (left center on map) was reached by backpacking in to near Capitol Lake.