4Lp Wonder
Okay, let me tell you about this cool, bucket-list thing I recently conquered!
This past weekend, me and a few friends headed into the Rockies to complete a backpacking challenge called the 4 Pass Loop. This has seriously been on my radar for 5+ years, so when I brought it up to my GF that lives in Denver this past spring, she was ALL IN. Although not new to backpacking, this was a different kind of backpacking than most of us have been on in a while. SO, we started planning for the ~28 mile loop through the Maroon Bells.
Well, when I say “we”, I should clarify. I have to give credit to my CO pals that really took the lead in making this trip successful. I mean, I literally was planning to use my travel backpack (~40L) until the night before when I was trying to shove all of my things inside without luck…(JenBen coming in clutch letting me borrow her 65L). I am also not necessarily a "worst-case" planner either - sure, I will throw in a first aid kit and fresh bandaids, but other than that, I prefer to keep my pack ALAP (as light as possible...yes, I just made that one up). Anyways, I hopped on my plane, attempted to carry-on my 65L bag (hard NO by the Delta folks), and made my way to CO a couple days ahead of departure to do a little acclimation & WF-CO (work from Colorado…let’s go peeps).
There were 5 of us planning to trek in - after loading and splitting up all of our gear, we had ~180-200 lbs of stuff, including 4 days of food, gear, clothes, and a 3L bag of wine of course. Britt had a birthday to celebrate & what the birthday girl wants, the birthday girl gets. ;) (the wine did not last past Day 1...) AND just like that, we jumped in the car with our packs & headed for Aspen.
Day 1, Welcome to my House –
We had downloaded maps and a plan – clockwise through the loop starting in Aspen. Side note: you can also get on the trail through Crested Butte, your route just changes a little bit, which for simplicity, I would look into as you have to reserve a shuttle to get to Maroon Lake. The shuttle also stops at 5pm each day, so do NOT plan to exit after 5pm unless you have secured 1 of the few parking spots. Anywaysssss, the shuttle dropped us off around 10:30am after explaining to us that Aspen tree dust works as sunscreen (should’ve took note, my poor nose!!), and we were dropped off – 5 rooks, 1 dog, 5 backpacks, mile 0. LEGGO SQUAD.
Since we didn’t get on the trail until a bit later and had a shorter mileage day planned, we took our time stopping at Maroon and Crater Lake while getting used to carrying a heavy a$$ pack in 10k+ ft of altitude. The views from the beginning are great and after 2 miles in, people start to thin which only makes the views (& hiking) even better. After about 4 hours of hiking, we landed near our first camp stop near pass 1. It was only 3pm.
It felt like a long day and my body and head were already feeling tired, but we had a lot of daylight left for entertainment. Hammocks, stream baths (pretty much ice baths), deer viewing, and wine drinking were a few of our past times. 😉 There was literally a deer that was just hanging around our campsite for a couple hours, peeping up and saying hi. We had awesome views of the basin and the binocs came in clutch! Our lights went out literally as the sky’s lights went out (~8pmish) – mostly because it got really cold and fires are allowed in very limited locations along the route. So cuddling up and reading were our response!
Day summary: 0 passes, 6.5 miles
Difficulty rating: Easy
Day 2 – Hell Rider
The day started as the sky woke up because that’s how tenting works. #skytime. We made breakfast (some variation of oatmeal), instant coffee (Trader Joe’s!!), did a quick camp clean & hit the road. The mornings start out very brisk – like puffy coat, hats & mittens, and double layer pants kinda brisk, but heat up SO fast. Like by 10am, I’d be in shorts and a SB (with some shoulder padding to keep the staps from digging in).
The crew actually went from 5 to 4 people on Day 2 as one in the group was hurting pretty badly and didn’t feel up to the rest of the trek with Day 1 being our light day. We had ~7-8 miles planned for Day 2, but there was a detour we were interested in taking to a lake that would make it 10+. Maroon Pass (pass #1) was our first pass that was about a mile away from camp, all uphill, but nothing too brutal. We hit it early in the AM and it was SO packed with people.
We descended into a valley, had some snacks, only to start climbing again for pass #2, Frigid Air. This was definitely the most challenging incline we had hit yet, the 35lb pack really makes it a whole ‘nother ball game. Hiking poles are a must, mostly for balance – weight forward, head down, keep rolling forward. The top of both passes were gorgeous and all tops offered new views as you were essentially entering a new part of the range each pass you climbed over.
After a 20min break as a reward, we began the descent. The day was really starting to heat up and we were in fully exposed sun, water supply depleting by the minute. We found a nice stream after passing a few dried up creeks, where we set-up a quick lunch and water refill. At this point, we were 6-7 miles in with another 4ish to go if we wanted to make it to Geneva Lake (the slight detour). We knew some more uphill was required to make it to Geneva as the detour was ~half the elevation up to the next pass, said to be the hardest of the passes – the infamous Trail Rider. It seemed like a good idea to get some of the uphill done Day 2 to make for a little nicer Day 3, so although 90F+, we went for it, mid-afternoon.
The decision that broke Grant’s foot…
The mileage started nice - following a river to some waterfalls, a steep descent, and back into a valley. Steep descents feel nice for the moment, but when you know you have to climb back up whatever you are going down, it’s less enjoyable. Also, the pack…we hit the base of Trail Rider, in extremely hot conditions and already exhausted from the day. Knowing it was ~1,000 ft climb in ~1 mile, we got our game faces on and put our poles in. Easily the most challenging hike of the loop, we were nearly crawling up the mountain, switch back after switch back. We were still gaining on people which made me feel better about crawling. At one point when I thought we must be close, I looked at my watch that said we had ascended less than 300 ft. Nearly defeated, we just kept trucking because there is no other option once you are partway up a mountain. Eventually, we made it to our branch off point to Geneva Lake which means we still had another mile to go, but limited elevation.
Complete exhaustion had set in by this point. Our bodies hurt, our packs were weighing on us, rubbing was turning into bruises, and we were just depleted. This was probably most of the crew’s lowest point in the trek - the laugh-crying kind of low point. But we just kept moving. We were about a half mile from the lake when the downloaded map showed a “quicker” route. It just happened to be off-roading through the woods, downhill to the lake. With our exhaustion, we chose to go for it. About 2 mins after I said “this seems like ankle-breaking terrain”, Grant stepped on a down tree that snapped under his feet and he went rolling off the trail. I jinxed it. Luckily, we were near the lake, so he stumbled down, we set up camp, and used the water as an “icing” method. Take care & carry on.
Day summary: 2 passes (West Maroon, Frigid Air), ~10.5 miles
Difficulty rating: HARD (steepest climbs, middle of day)
Day 3 – 1Ft in Front of the Other
We rewarded ourselves with a little slower AM on Day 3, thinking we would have a lighter hike day as we made up so much ground on Day 2 (like ~5 miles if we stuck to the game plan). However, with a gimp in the group, we started to doubt our plan and wonder if we should just push through pass 4 and see how far we could get to the exit. SO, spending a little more time than usual drinking coffee and stretching, we dreadfully hucked the packs over our bruises, found the sweet spot, & rolled out, gimp and all.
Since we had ascended about half of Trail Rider (Pass #3) the afternoon before, we only (LOL) had the last 1,000 ft or so of gain left. We hit the ascent within a mile or so of leaving camp and started back at our crawl to the top (much easier in the morning, I must say #freshlegs). Along the way, we came across a prime camp spot, also on a lake, but ALSO on the path that we wish we only knew about the night before 😊
The 2nd part of Trail Rider proved to be much nicer than the 1st section. We made it to the top around 11am and were hit with a beautiful view of Snowmass Lake (a big milestone in the loop), but knowing we still had a long day ahead of us. The views fueled us for a while and it seemed great that we could see our next destination (the lake). However, it was a deceiving descent and miles away from the top of the pass. While descending some tough terrain (including a shale section), we also heard a rockslide which sounded like an airplane flying over us, with a cloud of smoke above. Absolutely crazy!!
Snowmass was a quick, but gorg stop for a lunch break (also super busy). We were about 5.5 miles in for the day at this point, with a ~4 more miles to go for the day, some of those miles being another ascent to the last pass. Grant was killing it, although a bit slower than his normal pace. (PSA – hiking poles make great crutches!) We also got stopped by a ranger who quizzed us on trail rules and showed us how to properly hand our “yer-sack” (the bear-proof food bag). We passed (sort of) with some training 😉 Bury your poo 6-8” people!
We had a nice flat section and then the uphills started kicking in. Since we descended pretty far for Snowmass, we had a large chunk of climbing through the woods which was great. Shielded from the sun mid-day, we could move much more efficiently. The climb up Buckskin (pass #4) was longgggg, steady, and once again HOT. It felt like we were climbing for miles, but not a lot of really tough climbing. We did make it above the tree line, but even then, they were long switchbacks and steady uphills. (Best climbing snack: Trolli sour crawlers & I’m not a candy eater! Secret juice)
The top of Buckskin was my favorite views of the entire trip! The mountains on both sides of the pass were absolutely gorgeous. Jagged, overwhelming, jaw-dropping beauty. You gotta go see for yourself!!! We rewarded ourselves with some snackies, photo ops, and chill time. It was already late afternoon, so we knew we couldn’t be too greedy.
Our plan for camp was to find the first place with 1) semi-flat land for a tent & 2) a stream very near. We ended up falling over at the first sign of this, about 10ft off the trail – that is how exhausted we were. After a chilly sponge bath in the nearby stream, making dinner, and setting up camp, we were all ready to hit the hay. Bedtime came early, but we were interrupted in our reading by a couple who had lost their dog on the trail some hours before we got there :/ They were asking us if we saw a stray, which we hadn’t & we had a dog with. We wished them well, felt some of their pain, and drifted off for our last night in the woods.
Day summary: 2 passes (Trail Rider & Buckskin), ~10.5 miles
Difficulty: Med - Hard
Day 4 – Hop, Skip, Jump
We were all in good spirits on our last morning, knowing we were ~3.5 miles from the start which meant only a couple hours away from some great food and rest yo’ body time. It was also all descent which may have factored into our joy as well :P We ended up seeing the couple with the lost dog again, still no luck, but we were doing what we could to assist in the search! (her name is Luna if you are in the area)
About 2 miles down, we were back to Crater Lake which began all of the crowds and seeing normal people again. The people started coming in MASSES! After seeing less than 10 people a day to loads of people on the trails, it really started to get pretty annoying. BUT we made it back to the shuttle, took a final WE DID IT pic, and then started the trek back to Denver.
Day summary: 0 passes, 3.5 miles, 0 ft ascent, ____ ft descent (all downhill)
Difficulty: Easy
Post-Trip Specials -
Following 4 days of body exhaustion, well actually precisely 31 miles, 9500ft of gain, over 72 hours, we were feeling like we deserved a treat (or 2…or 4)…
First meal in the real world: fish tacos @ this super hip, hot spot in Glenwood Springs
First drink in the real world: iced coffee for me, a margarita followed by iced coffee for the others HEHE
Second meal in the real world (because it was great): amazing Vietnamese dinner – spring rolls followed by a chilled rice noodle bowl with pork
Summary -
We had a blast. Challenging, yes. Rewarding, so much yes. Beautiful, everywhere you looked. And we did it all by foot and with the things we could carry on your back. The biggest bummer of the trip was Grant hurting his ankle, but with a history of ankle issues, he was as prepared as he could be which helped him complete the loop. I’m not usually a huge “worst-case” planner, but was happy there were people in the group who are :p
Favorite pass: Buckskin (pass #4 for us)
Favorite meal (in the woods): broccoli chicken Ramen
Favorite gear: hiking poles? this is hard…I want to say the hammock, but we honestly were so exhausted to even put it up after night 1.
Favorite hike fuel: Trolli sour crawls :p & also probs pistachios or beef jerky :)
Peace, love, and bless this body,
yo’ girl Jen
