If I Were Going...: An Aborted Tour (Again!) and Some Fall Beauty

Maroon Bells

I have had a few instances of going to lots of trouble and expense to do something special and then have it fall apart because of issues with the provider.

Case in point, my planned trip to Gates of the Arctic back in 2015. I planned. I paid. I showed up. I flew to the meeting point. The guide didn't show. Yeah, I got my money back -- but not any of the money I spent to get there for the tour.

Crystal Mill; Photo: Wikipedia

Well, for years, Caty and I have been trying to figure out how to get to Colorado's iconic Crystal Mill to photograph it while fall foliage blazes around it.

We finally discovered that you must travel on a very rough road by 4WD vehicle or ATV.

So, we booked a tour during peak leaf time with Crystal River Jeep Tours, which seems to be the only guided Jeep tour provider.

Yeah, you can rent a Jeep, but I have heard the road is very tricky.

The tour departs from Marble, Colorado, which is five hours from my house and four hours from Caty's. So, we looked around the area and decided to stay in Aspen so that we could also go to Maroon Bells.

We found a "two bedroom" condo. It turned out to have one bedroom and a very strange loft with a 5-foot ceiling and access via a ladder. Plus, the loft had no curtains, so Caty was blasted by streetlights all night long. But, it had a great location, a nice living room, a serviceable kitchen and two bathrooms.

We drove up on a Saturday morning and did some exploring (I will get back to that later) and Caty came up after work on Saturday. She had only one day and would have to leave to drive home right after the Jeep tour because she had to work on Monday.

So, our plan was to get up early on Sunday morning to go to Maroon Bells for sunrise. I have done this before in the summertime, but never in fall. Access to Maroon Bells is limited, so planning is essential.

Photo: RFTA

You can drive your own car the eight miles into the Maroon bells area until 8 a.m. UNLESS the parking lot is full. Then you must take a shuttle bus from Aspen Highlands, a local ski resort.

The first bus is at 7:00 a.m. and they run until about 6:00 p.m., after which you can drive in. I should mention that during the summer, we have gotten in if we got there before dawn.

So, Scott, Caty and I got up early and arrived at the Maroon Bells Road at 5:26 a.m. But, the road was already blocked and we were told we would have to take the shuttle -- in an hour and a half!

So, no sunrise.

Now, there are a lot of issues here:

It was peak leaf weekend. We should have anticipated bigger crowds.

Fall color

From what we can gather, a lot of people illegally park (and sleep in their cars) in the Maroon Bells day use parking lot. So, there is little hope for those of us who obey the rules.

A lot of people were turned away around the time we were. Dawn is popular at Maroon Bells. I mean, look ...

Sunrise at Maroon Bells, July 2012

So, why don't they adjust bus schedules for peak dawn days and start running an hour before sunrise? That was the question everyone waiting kept asking.

Scott didn't want to wait.

Maroon Bells

We went back to the condo, got Caty's car, transferred our gear and went back to wait for the bus.

There was confusion when we returned, probably because three entities are involved: The U.S. Forest Service operates the Park; the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) operates the buses; the Aspen Highlands Ski Resort operates the ticket office.

The ranger blocking the road and the sign on the ticket office door offered different opening times for purchasing shuttle tickets ($8.00 each).

There are two doors plus a line for the bus, making it tricky to decide where to wait. Cell service is very spotty.

Despite the confusion, we were able to snag tickets to the first bus in. We discovered that we could have bought tickets the day before (but why would we? we thought we were going to drive in). Later, we also found out that once the parking lot at Aspen Highlands fills up, you have to shuttle in from another ski area even farther away. At least we didn't have to do that.

New rope barriers

When we arrived, we saw that Maroon Bells had installed posts and ropes to keep people away from the lakeshore. The barriers have one negative effect on photography -- it prevents you from getting a full reflection of the mountains if lake levels are low.

But, it also has a positive effect -- it gives you a clear shot without millions of photographers in your way.

And, when we arrived, there were lots and lots and lots of photographers. It looked like a movie opening.

Mountain paparazzi

I suspect a lot of those people slept in their cars.

Although we missed sunrise, it was worth the wait just to watch the fall colors shift and change as the sun slowly rose over the mountains to the east and as clouds built up in the west.

Shifting colors

It was breathtaking. And, so, Caty and I took lots and lots and lots of photos. During the time we were shooting, many of the early morning photographers cleared out. But, the beauty kept on coming.

Maroon Bells

And, you always have to make sure you take some photos of the other views that surround you in the valley.

Mountains opposite Maroon Bells

It is not just the Bells that are breathtaking.

View opposite Maroon Bells

We did speak with a couple who had been there for sunrise and they described a thin line of red at the top -- not the spectacular red wash we had seen in July 2012. So, I guess we didn't miss too much.

The Maroon Bells are two peaks -- Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak -- in the Elk Mountains the Maroon Bells--Snowmass Wilderness of White River National Forest about 12 miles southwest of Aspen.

Caty and me

Both peaks are fourteeners -- Maroon Peak is 14,163 feet (the 27th highest peak in Colorado) and North Maroon Peak is 14,019 feet (ranked 50th).

The Bells actually are maroon

Maroon Bells didn't get that name because of the color the rising sun projects on it. Rather, it comes from the color of the actual rock that comprises the mountains.

They are not made of the granite found throughout most of the Rockies.

Instead, Maroon Bells is composed of a pinkish-brown metamorphic sedimentary mudstone that has hardened into rock over millions of years.

Mudstone is weak and fractures readily, making hiking in the Bells dangerous. In 1965 alone, eight people died in five separate accidents.

Maroon Lake, which serves as the foreground for Maroon Bells photography, sits at 9,580 feet in a basin sculpted by Ice-Age glaciers and later dammed by landslide and rockfall debris from the steep slopes above the valley floor.

Maroon Lake

The Maroon Bells are one of the most photographed places in Colorado -- for obvious reasons.

Maroon Bells

Plus, it is a popular recreation site with three campgrounds, a Visitor Center and several hiking trails. More than 300,000 people visit the Bells every season.

Mountains opposite Maroon Bells

So, Caty and I stayed as long as we could and then took the bus back so that we could meet up with Scott to drive to Marble, a little over an hour away. The cell service at Aspen Highlands is very poor. You have to be standing in the right place to make or receive a call. So, I guess I was standing in the right place when my phone rang and I saw that it was a call from Marble.

Photo: Crystal River Jeep Tours

Probably just calling to confirm that we would be there, right?

No!

Calling to cancel because the Jeep broke down!

Seriously?

I had spent hundreds of dollars for lodges. I had driven 4 hours and Caty had driven about the same (and was going to have to turn around and drive right back home). It was peak weekend and there were no other options to get to Crystal Mill.

The guy who called was apologetic, but he didn't offer me ANYTHING!!! No discount for a future trip. No reschedule. No nothing. Pretty disappointing.

It was our one shot at Crystal Mill in 2018 and we couldn't go. Very disappointing.

So, we did a little more exploring on nearby Castle Creek Road ...

Castle Creek Road

... and then Caty drove back home -- a long drive, but at least not as late as had we gone to the Mill. Scott and I went to the Bells again that evening ...

Maroon Lake in the evening

... it was lovely, but evening isn't nearly as pretty ...

Maroon Bells in the evening

... as morning ...

Maroon Bells in the morning

Then we drove back home the next day.

I told this story a bit out of order so that I could get to the important points. Before we met up with Caty, Scott and I encountered some beautiful scenery on the way to Aspen, including the road between Twin Lakes and Independence Pass ...

On the way to Aspen

... and, Frying Pan Road to Ruedi Reservoir (this is actually past Aspen; we went exploring before we checked in to the condo) ...

Frying Pan Road

Then, once we got to Aspen, we drove down Castle Creek Road, which fans out from the same roundabout as Maroon Bells Road and follows some similar, but far less steep, terrain ...