2016 (Our Momma Remembrance) Colorado Trip: Day Three
Day 3: Thursday, October 6, 2016
With sunrise scheduled for about 7 AM locale time and knowing we had at least an hour and a half drive to Maroon Lake, I wanted to be on the road no later than 5 o’clock. Therefore, I set the alarm for 4 AM. While I utilized the coffee maker, to fill the three quart-thermoses that we had brought, I baked the Grands biscuits and Doug loaded up our rental vehicle. Not knowing how much snow we might have to face; we had rented an SUV. I warmed up the bacon and sausage and then made biscuit sandwiches which I wrapped in aluminum foil to help retain their heat. We had our breakfast a couple hours later, while sitting at the iconic spot of the Elk Mountain range and perhaps of all Colorado, a little less than eleven miles from Aspen, Colorado. Though I was not able to get the kind of photographs that have made the Maroon Bells so famous, I still managed quite a few, looking across Maroon Lake at the massive forms known as the Maroon Bells. These majestic images are two peaks in the Elk Mountain Range on the border between Pitkin and Gunnison County. Maroon Peak, at 14,163 feet is the twenty-seventh tallest mountain in Colorado while its sister, North Maroon Peak stands at 14,019 feet. Less than half a mile separate these two beauties. They are located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, one of the original wildernesses designated as such by the Wilderness Act of 1964.
We awoke that Thursday morning to the sound of light rain. The Carbondale/Crystal River KOA Holiday campground is actually a little over six miles south of Carbondale, a small Home Rule Municipality, of around 7,000, in Garfield County about thirteen miles from Glenwood Springs, located just off I-70. Glenwood Springs is most notable as the final resting place of the close personal friend to Wyatt Earp, famed gunfighter John Henry (Doc) Holliday. After packing up, we retraced our path back to Carbondale, by way of Colorado State Route 133 N, where we picked up Colorado-82 E.
As we proceeded east by southeast on CO-82 for a little over twenty-six miles, and gradually gained altitude, rain slowly turned to a heavy, wet snow. At the roundabout just before entering Aspen, Colorado, we took the fork to the southwest onto County Road or CR- 13, otherwise known as Maroon Creek Road. This paved highway took us a little over nine miles to a parking lot just short of the water. Doug and I arrived at Maroon Lake, around 7 AM, after gaining approximately 3,300 feet from Carbondale. The drive along Maroon Creek Road and, especially, the view from Maroon Lake were everything that we could have hoped for.
When we arrived at Maroon Lake, it was like a dream come true. Although I could not get the kind of photographs that I wanted, as the aspen leaves were mostly gone, there were a few, as you can see in the photo below, that still had some color remaining. However, the scene that beheld my eyes was breathtaking. I’ll let Doug do the talking:
“The view that encompasses 14,014-foot North Maroon Peak and 14,156-foot Maroon Peak, which stand as sentinels at the head of Maroon Lake, almost certainly is the single most photographed landscape in Colorado and, according to renowned photographer John Fielder, ‘one of the most photographed places on Earth.’ Fielder describes the composition that is visible from this vantage point as ‘so eye-catching and symmetrical that it defies the imagination of even the most inventive painters’ (John Fielder’s Best of Colorado, 4th edition, page 250).”
At Maroon Lake (ca. 9,500 ft.), there were approximately three-four inches of snow on the ground. Snowpack on the conifers was quite reminiscent of photographs taken in September 2006. Unfortunately, however, the aspen at Maroon Lake had little of their foliage remaining.
I was able to get several good, but not perfect, mirror images of Maroon Lake. The snow-clad conifers, snow-capped Maroon Bells, clouds floating overhead and the maroon rock of the cliffs to the right of the Maroon Bells were all clearly reflected in the lake. But I was not able to get the kind of photographs I had hoped for. There will be another day, though, and hopefully the good Lord will bless me.
The hardest part was deciding which photographs to include in my blog. There were just so many great shots.
All things considered, though, I had a great time in this small vista of God’s greatest creations, the Rocky Mountains, and I’ll let Doug take it from here, “fall foliage in the Maroon Bells area was, predictably, well past its peak. Ranked in order of remaining foliage, the Maroon Creek drainage and Maroon Lake was most barren; the Castle Creek area retained a bit more of its foliage, and Snowmass Village afforded the best opportunities for viewing aspen.“
“With respect to the quality of the mirror image that we viewed; I would describe it most accurately as a “shimmer” effect. If assigned a letter grade based on comparison to a state of perfect mirror calm, it would qualify as a “B” or “B+.” As one might anticipate, the peaks visually appeared first in the lake as they caught morning’s first light. The sun per se was not visible while we were at Maroon Lake. As light more fully penetrated the valley, the broken cloud cover, the full face of the Maroon Bells, snow-draped conifers to the left of Maroon Lake and the remaining aspen grove in the right foreground, as well as the snow-streaked maroon cliffs to the right, came sequentially into view and filled in the compositional “details” of the mirror image.”
We spent a few hours at Maroon Lake, mostly for my photo ops but then back at the parking lot while Doug composed his notes for what we had seen. We ate our belated breakfast during this time. After leaving this beautiful gem in the wilderness, we took a little side trip to a town referred to as Ashcroft, but in reality is a ghost town. Situated about ten miles south of Aspen, the town of Ashcroft, originally known as Castle Forks City, was founded in 1880 when two prospectors found silver. Ashcroft quickly became a boom town, but just as quickly went bust and by 1939, when Jack Leahy, the last resident died, became a ghost town. The “ghost town of Ashcroft” was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Interest in the area was renewed, however, during World War II as the 10th Mountain Division used Ashcroft for mountaineering training. Originally activated as the 10th Light Division (Alpine) in 1943, it was redesignated the 10th Mountain Division in 1944 and fought in the mountains of Italy in some of the roughest terrain during World War II. Reactivated again in 1985, the division was designated the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) and is currently stationed in Fort Drum, New York. Since its reactivation, the division or elements of the division have deployed numerous times, including Operations Desert Storm in 1990-91 in which allied forces secured freedom for Kuwait from Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi army. Since 2001, the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) has been the most deployed unit in the US military. Its combat brigades have seen over 20 deployments, to both Iraq and Afghanistan in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operations Enduring Freedom.
After the end of World War II, the area once again, received attention when Stuart Mace, a veteran of the war, brought his family and dog sled operation to the area. Mace and his huskies were featured in the television series Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, which was partially filmed in the Ashcroft and Aspen areas. The series, starring Dick Simmons, ran for three seasons. In fact, the ghost town was fitted with false fronts to imitate a Canadian set during the filming.
After leaving Ashcroft we spent a little time driving what seemed to be a mostly deserted Aspen. We found out that we were actually visiting during a time when a lot of places are shut down while retooling for the ski-season.
Aspen, Colorado, a skiing resort extravaganza. Some of the richest people in the world reside in or own property in Aspen including fifty members of the elite billionaire club. One famous person that most Americans should recognize is movie star Kevin Costner, known for his films Field of Dreams, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Open Range, JFK and Dances with Wolves, for which he won two Academy Awards (Best Picture and Best Director), as well as the television series Yellowstone in which Costner plays the owner of a ranch in the Yellowstone Valley of Montana.
We returned to Carbondale under a beautiful blue sky later in the day and prepared to head south the following morning. Onward to the San Juan Mountains!
