Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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Option 1 would have awesome scenery (as if anywhere on 4 Pass doesn't). Only areas with a lot of people would be Maroon to Crater and smaller amounts of people around Buckskin Pass, Snowmass Lake and the trail to the Gothic Road area. You will definitely see some cars on the road from Schofield Pass to the turnoff to the East Maroon Trailhead, but will see a lot less people on East Maroon Pass vs. West Maroon pass.
There is no camping from around Schofield Pass to Gothic except for one pay site, so you would have to plan accordingly.
If you can swing the normal 4-Pass on weekdays you avoid a lot of the crowds after Crater Lake.
If you are looking for solitude, that is one of the worst places to go searching for it. That doesn't mean the region isn't spectacularly beautiful, but there are plenty of other amazing ranges in this country for peace and quiet. If you are in good shape and acclimated, the 4-Pass Loop looks like a reasonable day hike. I have seen people do it in under 13 hours. You don't need to carry more than a quart of water so you can get away with an ultralight pack. Alternatively you can add a few 14ers side trips to make it into a full expedition.
I have 6 days to spend and am not in any particular hurry. I don't mind company on sections, just didn't want the whole thing to be like Yosemite Valley. Also didn't realize that lower sections of the Options I attached had an actual road.
Here is another version with a Start/Finish in Snowmass.
You can avoid almost all of the road on your Option 1 by using Trail 401, which starts at Schofield Pass and goes down to somewhere near the Judd Falls/Copper Ck Th (I'm not sure; maybe the lower end is actually at the Judd Falls/Copper Ck TH ??)
Every village has at least one idiot. Successful villages choose someone else to be their leader.
DaveLanders wrote:You can avoid almost all of the road on your Option 1 by using Trail 401, which starts at Schofield Pass and goes down to somewhere near the Judd Falls/Copper Ck Th (I'm not sure; maybe the lower end is actually at the Judd Falls/Copper Ck TH ??)
The 401 ends at the Judd Falls TH. The only road portion that is mapped that I can see is the section from Crystal Townsite to Schofield. And that should be easily bypassed by taking trail that intersects the West Maroon Trail.
I have 6 days to spend and am not in any particular hurry. I don't mind company on sections, just didn't want the whole thing to be like Yosemite Valley. Also didn't realize that lower sections of the Options I attached had an actual road.
Once you get past Maroon Lake in the first 1/4 mile no part of the 4PL will feel anything remotely like Yosemite Valley. For better and worse.
I am unable to walk away from the mountain without climbing it. An unclimbed mountain tugs at my consciousness with the eternal weight of time itself. Until I've pressed my face into it's alpine winds, hugged it's ancient granite walls, and put it's weathered summit beneath my heal I'm unable to resist it's attraction.Knowing nature gives the mountain more time than she gives us adds urgency to the obsession. As has been said before; the mountain doesn't care.
