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)
Several other informative posts:
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.
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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.
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| 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.
Photos
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| Maroon Lake; first day out |
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| Hiking Wed afternoon toward West Maroon Pass |
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| View from West Maroon Pass |
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| more West Maroon Pass |
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| View on the way towards Frigid Air Pass |
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| View from Frigid Air Pass |
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| A beautiful river in Fravert Basin |
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| Hike toward Trail Rider Pass |
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| From campsite the night before Trail Rider Pass |
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View from Trail Rider Pass |
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| Snowmass Lake, Friday |
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A view leading up to Buckskin Pass
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| View from Buckskin Pass |
