New Mexico Camping

Saturday, May 20, 2023

Grand Canyon Rim-to-River-to-Rim Day Hike

Latitude, Longitude: 36.0529 , -112.08304 Elevation: ~7260ft (at South Kaibab trailhead)

Elevation varies from 7260' at South Kaibab Trailhead to 2546' at Phantom Ranch to 6860' at Bright Angel Trailhead (according to NPS websites)

Weather Forecast: Grand Canyon Village Weather Forecast

Fire Restrictions: See the Grand Canyon National Park site

View from Skeleton Point, Grand Canyon (photo by Dan Lafferty)

Intro

Here we are with yet another out-of-state blog on my New Mexico camping blog. Well, this one is just because the Grand Canyon is epic and deserves another spot on the web to showcase some beautiful pictures. We often try to get a more adventurous trip for the older (14-18) teenage boys in our church youth group, something with sufficient challenge to help them appreciate that they can accomplish great things with sufficient preparation and hard work. In planning our options for 2023, one of the young men suggested the Grand Canyon. We (I?) might have initially scoffed at that, but once one of our leaders started looking into it, we realized it was doable. I'll also convey some of the preparation information, which honestly, is even more important for this than it was for the 4 Pass Loop.

Resources

Do your homework; be prepared. Honestly, the National Park Service does an excellent job of making appropriate resources available. We scoured for planning resources, but ultimately, we got pretty much everything we needed off the NPS website itself. It really is well done.

Grand Canyon National Park website: Grand Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Specific NPS page about distances and elevations of various parts of the Grand Canyon Adventure. Backcountry Trail Distances - Grand Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Webcams from NPS page. Super helpful when you are looking to evaluate trail conditions. Webcams - Grand Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Critical Alerts and Backcountry Updates: Critical Backcountry Updates: Including Trail Closures and Restrictions - Grand Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Alltrails Description of this same route: Explore South Kaibab, Phantom Ranch, and Bright Angel Trail | AllTrails

Gear Rental available nearby: Camping & Hiking Gear Rental | Grand Canyon Outfitters (visitgrandcanyon.com)

Preparation

All over the NPS pages and on other blogs around the web, you will find abundant warnings telling people not to do exactly what we did on this trip. They glaringly say, "DO NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, attempt to hike from Rim-to-River-to-Rim in a single day." (referring to leaving the South Rim, going to the bottom, then back up to the South Rim) They are even more strenuous in condemning such an attempt to go "Rim-to-Rim" (from the South Rim to the River and on to the North Rim; or vice versa). That is very good advice, but there are exceptions. Keep in mind, the NPS must put out such warnings for the lowest common denominator, for the average person with no experience who shows up on a Tuesday morning at the Grand Canyon and thinks, "Wow. This is beautiful. I've gone on a 2 mile hike before; I'm just going to do this today and be back before nightfall." People have tried such things without preparation, and sometimes they do fine - but sometimes (often) they end up injured or even in the hospital. I won't link to the numerous stories here of people who ended up with serious health issues/accidents in the Grand Canyon; feel free to google that yourself. Preparation is the key. Weather is your worst enemy here. If you show up in the Grand Canyon in June or July, those 120F temperatures at the base of the canyon are going to eat your lunch, fry your brain, and leave you seriously dehydrated or worse. I know there have been some that have done this trip successfully in the summer, but they are the exceptions.

We went in mid-March, and it was great. Even though it was around 20F in the morning and snowed multiple inches the night before, it was still around the 70s at the bottom (4hrs later) and very sunny. Sunscreen was required, and lots of water. We had planned our trip for months in advance and knew how much water we'd need, planned to have enough calories for the trip (I brought way too many), and had carefully planned out the route we were taking, including planning our departure and anticipated arrival times relative to shuttle bus availability.

For preparation, I will note that the AllTrails link above was very helpful. The NPS sites have lots of good information, and the webcams are super helpful, but the AllTrails page gets new comments often (sometimes multiple times per week) where people will often comment on the trail conditions, water availability, etc. I found that very helpful.

Conditioning: You don't need to be a marathon trail runner to do this trail successfully, but you do need to be experienced in hiking. You need to be familiar with your limits and know yourself well enough to be able to push through a long, difficult hike. Because, once you get down there, hiking up is the only way out. We had 13-14yr old boys with us, but they are all active and regularly participate in soccer or other sports, so they had no problems physically. A few of us were quite a bit slower, but we had been on enough long-distance backpacking trips to know we could do this - especially as a day hike without the extra weight of overnight gear. But, please don't attempt this if you don't have sufficient experience.

Route planning: most people will head down South Kaibab and back up Bright Angel. There's a reason for that. SK is a bit steeper, and there is zero water available along SK. You have water at the trailhead and down at Phantom, and that's it. I mean, I guess you could filter from the river, but at that point, you're less than a mile from the Ranch with clean water. Coming back up BA, we at least had water at the Gardens, but during the summer months, you'd also have water at the 3mi and 1.5mi rest houses. That's the route we took, SK to PR to BA, and I would do it that way again.

The Trek

We started at 6am and went approximately 6 miles down to the river, then another mile or so to Phantom Ranch. The hike down South Kaibab is pretty steep at times, and since the return on a standard hike (hike up a mountain, and return coming back down) is so much faster than the way up, I figured we'd make really good time on the way down.

South Kaibab trail conditions at 6am (photo by Jeff Dabling)

I was warned it probably wouldn't be so, but I didn't see how it could be otherwise. I don't know if the trail conditions for the first several miles had something to do with it, but while I was thinking we maybe do that 6 miles in 3hrs or less, it took me more like 4hrs or so. Especially since we were doing a day-hike without the need to carry 40-lb backpacks, I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal. It was slow going with the icy trail to start, then slushy, then muddy, then damp. Maybe we were tired after that... but it took time to get down. Don't underestimate that.

Tunnel leading to Kaibab Suspension Bridge, at the Colorado River (photo by Jeff Dabling)

Kaibab Suspension Bridge (Black Bridge), on the Phantom Ranch side (photo by Gary Fears)

We got down to Phantom Ranch and took a break for lunch. I checked my boots and decided to apply a little moleskin to make sure some hot spots didn't turn into full blisters. Applied more sunscreen. Rested a bit, refilled my hydration reservoir, then got going. We were on the move again by 11am. We had 10 miles to go, and a lot of elevation in those miles! Honestly, while I was a bit tired at this point, I felt pretty good. I didn't have any issues and knew I was still good for multiple more miles.

The next major stop would be Havasupai Gardens (formerly Indian Gardens), approximately 5 miles away. That would also be the next water station. The trail starts out relatively level for the first two miles or so out of the Ranch before it starts going back up the canyon (around Pipe Creek Beach). Once you get hiking up the canyon a bit, you get to a region I was told was called the Corkscrew - a series of switchbacks and twists and turns before you hit the straight-away leading to the Gardens.

Getting into the Gardens, I was tired. I had done around 12 miles by that point in the day. But, I was still feeling good. I felt like I could keep going, and even do this again the next day. We got some water, took a break. Had some more snacks. I was a bit motivated by the fact that while I had been planning on another 5 miles from the Gardens to Bright Angel Trailhead, the signage at the Gardens clearly said it was 4.5 miles remaining. Sometimes it's the little things.

Time to finish this off!

From Havasupai Gardens, with 4.5 miles remaining, there are 2 additional checkpoints at 3 miles from the top and 1.5 miles from the top. These checkpoints are creatively named the "3 mile rest house" and the "1.5 mile rest house". Knowing that my progress would be easily trackable gave me a lot of assurance (at about the Gardens, I had to turn off the GPS tracking on my phone for AllTrails because it was sucking my battery dry! I wanted to make sure I still had battery for taking pictures, so no more digital GPS from this point; I was down to 25% battery). I was also pleased to look at my timing and realize it was feasible that I could get back before dark and possibly have a chance of a decent dinner! Up until then, I was thinking it might take me 15 hours to complete this, putting me back up top around 9pm. Now, it was looking possible that I might be back hours before then. That was good news.

I hit the 3 mile checkpoint and still felt pretty good. Obviously, I was tired. But, I felt good. No water refill available, but I had plenty. The trail was still in good condition. But, about the 1.5 mile checkpoint, something switched in me, and my body said I had enough. I was dead tired. It didn't help that around this point, the trail started to get snow/ice covered again, which takes a lot more energy to hike over. More energy is wasted as there was a fair amount of slipping. Mostly due to this, I decided to put on my ice spikes at some point around 1-1.25 miles remaining. It's a bit of a trade-off, as it's harder to walk with the spikes, but each step is much more efficient. So, I was better off with the spikes on at the end, but it was still more tiring than hiking a dry trail without spikes.

Snowy/Icy for the last mile or so to Bright Angel (photo by Jeff Dabling)

After 12hrs and 40 minutes, I made it to the top of Bright Angel! Woot! It was great! Several members of our group made it in around 9 hours, but I was pretty happy with my time. We got back just in time to head to a nearby town to get some real dinner! No mountain house meals for me that night!

I'd be interested to do this trek again, but I'd like to try it as a 3-day backpacking trip. It seems like a good itinerary would be to take the first day hiking down to Phantom Ranch from South Kaibab. Tent camp down there (permit required). 2nd day, hike up to Havasupai Gardens and then camp there. Last day, hike out the last 4.5 miles to the top of Bright Angel. It would be nice to spend more time in the canyon, and breaking up the hike out into two days would make it much more doable.

Transportation in the Village

Something to consider is how to get where you are going. The Bright Angel Trailhead is pretty accessible as it sits amongst the main part of the shops and museums and such of Grand Canyon Village. There are shuttle stops nearby, but also parking, so you can come and go as you please. South Kaibab has no parking - you can only get to it by shuttle bus. So, you need to plan your route such that you can go when the shuttles are running. We were able to make it work by planning on having some of the faster crew finish up early enough to still be able to take a shuttle back from Bright Angel to South Kaibab, pick up a car that we had left at SK that morning, and then come back in that vehicle to pick up the rest of us. Keep in mind, that round-trip with the shuttle and then driving back took our team member the better part of an hour! The shuttles make lots of stops.

Drinking Water & Food

Water is life. Hydrate or die. Know where you are getting your next water from and plan accordingly. Know how much water you need in case your next refill point is unexpectedly unavailable. We had grand plans of just carrying a few liters of water down to Phantom Ranch, and then only carrying maybe 2 liters to the Gardens, and from there, 1 liter in between each rest house. Great way to save weight. Problem is, per the link below, the 3mi and 1.5mi rest house water was closed for the winter when we went in March. Only water between Phantom and Bright Angel Trailhead was at the Gardens. So, I hiked with my full 3L reservoir plus a backup Nalgene. I actually drank the Nalgene first, as that is where I mixed in my electrolytes. Regardless: make yourself knowledgeable about what water is available, have a backup plan, and be prepared.

Critical Backcountry Updates: Including Trail Closures and Restrictions - Grand Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) (look for the heading on drinking water in the cross-canyon corridor)

As it turns out, I only consumed 1.5L of water (with 2 Propel packets) from SK down to Phantom. Whatever I might have drunk at lunch, once I filled up there, I only drank another 1.5L (and 2 Propel packets) until the Gardens. And, after the refill at the Gardens, I did about 1.75L (and 2 Propel packets). But, everyone is different. I am glad I had the water available. This was the first hike I tried the Propel packets. I don't actually like flavored water; I only took them because someone suggested the electrolytes would help me maintain endurance from all the "stuff" you lose when you sweat. I did it, and I feel like I did pretty good for most of the hike, so maybe it was helpful.

For food, I brought quite a bit more than I normally would have, but given experiences of others, I wanted to make sure I had enough. I ended up consuming:

~150 cal of peanut M&Ms
one half of a mint power pro crunch bar (~160 cal)
a 210 cal beef jerky stick (it was huge)
2 honey stinger waffles (160 cal ea)
Lunch: 2 pulled pork packets (from Walmart, no refrigeration needed, 130 cal ea) with 1 tortilla (210 cal)

Oh, and at Havasupai Gardens, I downed a 700 cal pouch of RecPak Chocolate. It was a little hard to take down (it didn't mix well, but they tell me they are making improvements), but it was calorie dense for the weight. I had quite a bit extra food. I already knew I typically don't snack much on a backpacking trip, so I didn't really expect to need much - I just wanted to be prepared. Above is what I actually ate; I'd definitely carry enough to have spare on a future trip, but not nearly as much extra as I had this time.

Water Crossings & Adverse Trail Conditions

I did enjoy the fact that there are no water crossings on this route that required getting your feet wet (but you do cross the river several times on bridges). Note that some other trails in the Grand Canyon do require crossing rivers, but not these.

Anticipating icy trails, I brought micro-spikes. I also brought hiking poles. I hadn't ever done a long trip with poles before, as I figured it was just extra weight. But, knowing there would be a lot of steps on this trail (lots!), and hearing that they are uneven in height with some as much as 18" (not common), I thought the poles would help me unload my legs and especially help if the trail was wet or icy. I could have maybe done without the spikes, although I'm glad I took them, but I definitely wouldn't do it without poles. I really enjoyed them. I think I will take them on all future backpacking trips or extended day trips like this. Look to the webcams (linked above) and the comments on the AllTrails link to evaluate your trail conditions and see what you might feel like you need.

Weather

I was told to expect a 30F difference between Rim temperatures and River temperatures. For us (in March), it might have been more like 40-50F, as it was around 20F when we started, and it felt like it was in the 70s when we got to Phantom Ranch. In the summer, it may be different; but keep in mind there is nearly 5000' elevation difference from the Rim to the River (depending on where you are on the Rim).

With those temperatures, I was worried about needing extra layers and then needing to pack those layers out, carrying dead weight. I didn't have one of those nice compactible puffy jackets or some other extra lightweight layer. So, I just started out wearing long pants and a long-sleeve Columbia PFG shirt, and a hat, of course. I did take a pair of lightweight gloves and balaclava in my pack, just in case, but I never needed them. It was admittedly chilly waiting for the shuttle bus in the morning, but the moment we started hiking, I was just fine. I'm certainly glad I wasn't carrying any significant weight for extra warmth. But, everyone is different - some people will need extra layers.

If you go in the summer, expect brutal daytime temperatures. I've spoken to several people that therefore intentionally started the hike in the summer at 11pm or midnight, trying to finish up by 7-9 am. I've spoken to some who did the trip in early Jan, and often snow isn't as much of an issue there, although I'm sure the overnight lows are still cold - but they didn't have to worry much about the trail condition at all. Whenever you go, just do your homework and plan accordingly.

Photos (in chronological order)

Our campsite at Mather Campground, the night before our trek (photo by Gary Fears)

Grand Canyon as seen from one of the overlooks at Grand Canyon Village (photo courtesy of Jeff Dabling)

Bright Angel Trailhead marker at Grand Canyon Village (photo by Jeff Dabling)

Starting to snow heavily the afternoon before the trek at Grand Canyon Village (photo by Jeff Dabling)

Getting on the shuttle bus to South Kaibab Trailhead at 5:30am (photo by Gary Fears)

Starting out the morning on South Kaibab Trail at 6am (photo by Gary Fears)

South Kaibab Trail a bit before Cedar Ridge (photo by Gary Fears)

Misty Morning at Cedar Ridge (photo by Gary Fears)

Me at Cedar Ridge (photo by Ray Griffith)

Foggy canyon view, between Cedar Ridge and Skeleton Point (photo by Jeff Dabling)

Fogged in trail on the edge of a cliff, coming down from Cedar Ridge (photo by Jeff Dabling)

Skeleton Point (photo by Gary Fears)

View of the canyon past Skeleton Point (photo by Jeff Dabling)

Coming down off Skeleton Point (photo by Gary Fears)

Early view of the Colorado River (photo by Gary Fears)

View of the Kaibab Suspension Bridge (Black Bridge) from above (photo by Gary Fears)

Kaibab Suspension Bridge (Black Bridge) crossing the Colorado River (photo by Steve Meredith)

Crossing back over the Colorado on the Silver Bridge (photo by Jeff Dabling)

Coming up the trail towards Havasupai Gardens (photo by Jeff Dabling)

View of the canyon walls coming up Bright Angel (photo by Jeff Dabling)

Looking back down the Bright Angel Trail, in between the 3 and 1.5 mile rest houses (photo by Jeff Dabling)

Looking down at Havasupai Gardens and Plateau Point from just before 1.5mi rest house (photo by Jeff Dabling)

View from the tunnel near the top of Bright Angel Trail (photo by Steve Meredith)

View of the canyon from the top of Bright Angel Trail (photo by Jeff Dabling)

Sunday, May 14, 2023

Dispersed Car Camping in Jemez past Gilman Tunnels

Latitude, Longitude: 35.8360990, -106.7860470; Elevation: ~7400ft

Weather Forecast: https://tinyurl.com/AHjemezSpotWeather

Fire Restrictions: https://nmfireinfo.com/fire-restrictions/

So, we never went here as a Boy Scout troop, but for nearly every May since 2015 or so, we've gone here for a church group campout, Fathers and Sons. It's a beautiful little spot right off a road, nice grassy area for tenting, and near a stream for playing. Good times.

It's just dispersed camping on National Forest land in the Jemez Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest.

USFS Jemez Ranger District Website

We've always loved this spot. Seemed perfect for going on a campout with a bunch of younger boys and some other siblings, and just hanging out and having a good time.

Note that in May, the weather in the Jemez can be highly variable. In 2021, it was beautiful weather, in the high 60s during the day and the evening weather before bed wasn't below the 40s. It did get down to 35F overnight, but nothing that required double-bagging. However, in the same May timeframe, we've had it rain non-stop the entire campout; and at other times, we've seen it snow. So, watch the weather and plan accordingly.

The map below (as well as the GPS coordinates at the top of the page) show the location we camped at.

A few pictures of the campsite area:

The campground area includes a nice long strip of parking along the road, and a decent size meadow area for playing games, or just hosting lots of tents. We've easily fit 60+ people here, and had room for more. The Cebolla River (stream) runs right along the campsite, which dumps into the Guadalupe a mile or so downstream.

Nearby spot for exploration:

You pass through the Gilman tunnels on the way up here (assuming you go that way). Once you pass the second (north) tunnel, there is a spot to pull off and park. There are areas you can scramble over the rocks and get down to the water. I wouldn't send a 2-yr old unaccompanied, but it's not too dangerous. Highly recommended to stop and enjoy the rushing sound of water in the cascades as they tumble down the canyon. This Guadalupe River is fed by the Cebolla (runs by the campsite) and the Rio delas Vacas.

Monday, July 18, 2022

Four Pass Loop (Maroon Bells - Snowmass Wilderness, near Aspen, CO)

Latitude, Longitude: 39.0986257, -106.9406552 Elevation: ~9585ft (at trailhead)

Elevation varies from 9585' at trailhead to ~12,500' at each pass.

Weather Forecast: Maroon Bells Weather Forecast (4315m) (mountain-forecast.com)

Fire Restrictions: White River National Forest - Home (usda.gov)

Intro

I debated and debated over whether to post this. Afterall, this blog is supposed to be about camping in New Mexico. Aspen, Colorado is decidedly not New Mexico. I'm still not sure I won't publish this and then immediately take it down. However, taking a group of young men on a 4-day backpacking trip requires a lot of advanced planning, and at the time we were planning this trip for early July 2022, all major wilderness areas in New Mexico were closed due to fire danger and approximately half the state seemed to actively be on fire. 2022 has been a rough year for our beautiful forests.

When looking for options outside New Mexico for a trip this summer, we came across abundant information resources about this amazing trail that was breathtakingly beautiful and a solid bucket list item, along with being a decent challenge for experienced backpackers. We had to go for it. With all those resources, however, there likely isn't a need for one more blog post about one of the most well-trafficked trails in Colorado. Perhaps this is a cathartic exercise in recounting all the things I should have done better, or just a good opportunity to post some pictures of an amazing place.

The Four Pass Loop is a 27-mile trek through four different mountain passes, each around 12,500'. From the Maroon Lake Trailhead (9585ft), you will climb up to a 12,500ft mountain pass, and then typically most of the campsites are around 11,500ft. Phrases such as "breathtaking", "iconic backpacking experience", "must be on your bucket list" are common in reviews of this amazing trek.

Resources

Do your homework; be prepared. First, watch this stunning video by Steven Smith, who filmed his hike on the trail. It has a good smattering of the beauty and the weather you are likely to encounter, and is oddly satisfying to watch. 28 Miles Alone on the Four Pass Loop - ASMR - Inspired by Kraig Adams - YouTube.

USFS Official Resource on the trail; very helpful. Four Pass Loop - West Maroon to Buckskin (usda.gov)

USFS detailed info on available campsites (numbering here referenced below)

Trail Map with mileage, by AspenTrailfinder.com

Several other informative posts:

Top Hike: The Four Pass Loop | Hiking Aspen | Aspen Snowmass

Four Pass Loop | Map, Guide - Colorado | AllTrails

Four Pass Loop, near Aspen, Colorado (hikingwalking.com)

Hike of the Week: Maroon Bells / Four Pass Loop – Paria Outdoor Products

Preparation

Yes, you really *do* need reservations to either park at the trailhead or take the shuttle. The trailhead is a popular destination. We opted for the shuttle because, a) I think the parking lot reservations for the days we had in mind were already full, and b) I *believe* the road is closed to only allow shuttle bus traffic during most of the day, and we didn't want to restrict what time we could get out. See here for more info on reservations. The shuttle leaves from Aspen Highlands Ski Resort (out front, by the parking garage). Parking there is pretty pricey for a multi-day trip, as the 2022 cost was $40/day. I was told there is a place in Aspen where the parking is only $6/day, but it wasn't open then. I think you'd be required to take a free city bus from that location to Aspen Highlands to get to the shuttle.

Yes, you really *do* need to use an approved bear canister. I didn't have one and I've never needed one for camping in New Mexico, so I wasn't thrilled with the idea of buying one. I toyed with the idea of getting a Ursack, which was supposedly approved for use in this area and seemed more usable in future outings than a rigid canister. However, the Ranger told us (and corroborated by other info I saw online) the Ursacks, while technically allowed, weren't recommended, weren't found to be super effective, and likely would be ravaged by rodents which may then lead to larger issues with bears. So, when a friend offered to let me borrow a canister of his, we went that direction.

Let me tell you, stuffing all your food for a 4-day backpacking trip into a rigid canister isn't easy. We barely managed to get food for 2 of us into a 6.9L canister. A member of our group packing food for 1 person into a 4.5L canister had much better luck. However, make sure you plan appropriately so all your trash will also fit in the canister. Pack it in, pack it out. Seems straightforward, but some in our group didn't plan as well as they should have. ("Mountain House"-type dehydrated meals only fit with multiple days of other food if you empty the contents into a ziplock; they come prepackaged with a bunch of air. I like the ease-of-use of their zip-top packaging, though, so I flattened them and stuffed them down along the walls of the canister.)

Bug spray. You will need insect repellant. The.mosquitos.were.winning.

As of 2022, you don't have to have a limited-access permit to hike here, but you do have to fill out a permit upon arrival and indicate which campsite you intend to stay at each day.

The Trek

As is common, we started out going clockwise around the loop. Most people recommend this option, as it begins with a more gradual (but long) climb to the first pass, and some claim that it saves the best scenery (Buckskin Pass) for last. I was all for starting out a bit more gradually. As for "best scenery"; I don't know - it was all pretty amazing. Hard to identify a specific pass or location that was hands down better than others. So, the route we took had us doing approximately 6.5 miles the first day from Maroon Lake to a campsite just past West Maroon Pass, around site number 36 or 37. Doing 3000' elevation in one day, combined with having the climb to the 12,500' pass at the end of the day made it feel like it was the hardest day. Maybe some adjustment to the altitude that first day was part of the difficulty.

Day 2, we hit Frigid Air Pass within the first mile or two from our campsite, climbed down to around 10,500' elevation, and then climbed back up to around 12,000' before we lowered again to a campsite around 11,500'-11,700' (21 or 22). That was definitely the most distance at around 8.5 miles. We were pretty tired, but not as wiped out as from the first day.

Day 3 was pretty easy, relatively speaking. Again, we hit our pass early in the day, within just 1.5 miles or so of our campsite crossing Trail Rider Pass. We did go lower before climbing again partway toward Buckskin pass to stay at Campsite 6. However, the overall distance was only around 5.5 miles, so it was much more relaxing. Plus, the campsite was gorgeous. It was a nice little flat area buried in the pines with a stream on either side of the campsite. Boy, filtered water from those streams was *so* tasty! Oh, but this one was the worst for mosquitos. They were usually worst in the late afternoon/early evening. They didn't usually bother us much in the mornings. I was told that if you take the side hike down to Snowmass Lake (we passed it this day, but the main trail never actually goes down to the lake), the mosquitos are pretty horrendous.

Day 4! Last day! We hit Buckskin Pass early in the day, and then pretty much downhill all the rest of the way out. Honestly, for the first part of the way down from the pass, I didn't think it was all that steep and I wondered why people tried to avoid it. However, as we got further from the pass, it really got steeper and pretty rocky on the way down. Our mileage for the last day was only slightly longer than day 3 around 5.9 miles.

Elevation profile as we went CW around the loop (note, this was the pre-planned trek, not the actual track log; we had battery issues with the GPS preventing an all-inclusive track log):

Our pre-planned trek, including coordinates for some of the campsites we were planning on hitting, can be downloaded here.

Drinking Water

There is water all over the place here, but you can some days go several miles without seeing any water worthy of filtering. Not knowing ahead of time whether our destination campsites would have easy access to water, I ended up filling up my 3L reservoir at least once per day. I ended up not needing to carry that much water and could have generally done with just 2L. As it turns out, each of our campsites had decent access to water. The Wed night site just past West Maroon Pass was only ~75yards from a good stream. We passed an awesome filtering opportunity just before the last ridge on the way to the Thursday night campsite prior to Trail Riders Pass, but ended up with two ponds within 100-200 yards of our campsite. The closest one wasn't great for filtering, but we hit the second pond on the hike out the next day. As mentioned above, the Friday night site (site 6, I think) had super close streams on either side of the campsite.

I really do prefer drinking from a hydration reservoir, but they admittedly take more work to refill (require taking off the pack and partially unpacking to get them out). If you were inclined to just drink from a Nalgene and had easy access to your filter, perhaps you'd just carry 1-2 quarts at any one time and fill up anytime you saw water.

Water Crossings

We had been warned that there would be multiple water crossings throughout the hike. We ended up only having three that required stopping and pulling off our boots. Two the first day on the way to West Maroon Pass, then a third on the second day on the way toward Trail Rider Pass. There are numerous other times you have to step through shallow sections of stream, but usually with rocks or other methods to avoid soaking your boots. I did see some people just tromp on through, with water up to their calves or knees, and they just didn't care. That's not me.

A river crossing in Fravert Basin on the way to Trail Rider Pass

There was another required crossing on Friday. It's the only river crossing called out on the AspenTrailfinder.com map linked above between Snowmass Lake and Buckskin Pass. However, we had been warned that if we headed off to the right (as you hike East) there was a path that led around 100' to some logs that enabled a dry crossing of the river, and then let you loop back to the main trail.

Weather

We really lucked out on the weather. The mountain weather link above turned out to be somewhat decent for predicting the weather. I've found that attempts to predict weather in the mountains are fraught with inaccuracy. In this case, the prediction said we'd get a solid inch of rain and thunder and lightning all Wednesday afternoon, but then not have any rain Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. It also predicted our daily lows would be somewhere in the upper 40s to lower 50s. What we got, thankfully, was no rain or thunder all Wednesday afternoon until minutes after we crested West Maroon Pass and were almost to our campsite. Then, it never rained or thundered again the entire time we were there. The temperatures were a fair bit lower. One morning was around 32F, while the other mornings were in the lower 40s. The daily highs were probably in the 60s, although I'd estimate that on Saturday it might have been in the 70s - it was pretty hot on the way out in the direct sun.