Bob's World Travels

Day 5

August 4, 2013

Day 5

We woke on Day 5 at our spectacular campsite on Frigid Air Pass.  It was beautiful but a bit cloudy with the full moon still over the mountains to the west.  From the pass, we hiked down steeply to the high reaches of Fravert Basin and around the basin to climb West Maroon Pass.  We then hiked down beautiful West Maroon Creek to not so beautiful Crater Lake.  At Crater Lake there were quite a few people.  From Crater Lake, down the valley, the Maroon Bells dominated the scenery.  We next hiked down to Maroon Lake and the trailhead where two people would leave and we would pick up supplies for the next five days.  In fact, three people left the hike.  At the trailhead were hundreds of tourists who were unloaded from buses to see the classic view of Maroon Lake with the Bells behind it.  We enjoyed the restrooms with running water.  We climbed with our food back to Crater Lake where we had hidden our packs.  We next undertook a warm climb up Minnehaha Creek to a campsite that Dave and Laura knew about.  The campsite consisted of a large flat area with trees and great views of Pyramid Peak and North Maroon Peak. With just Dave Callais, Laura Hansen and myself, the hike became much more calm and much more pleasant.