Marroon Bells

[overheadx2]

I will be in Colorado in early Sept and wanted to go for a hike. All the websites indicate Maroon Bells loop is the loop to do. Upon evaluating the loop, it seems very regimented with no camping outside of the established campsites. this does not sound like my idea of a good time. Any one have any suggestions of something else in that area with a little more remoteness, fishing and passes in a 20 to 30 mile loop.

[anotherdogdown17]

The "Four Pass Loop" you described is often extremely busy due to its popularity. You could look into the "Maroon Snowmass Capitol Creek Circuit" which will be less crowded but shares a few miles of the same trail. It might be closer to 35 miles though and I'm not sure about the rules on using established campsites. I'll be doing this circuit starting July 1 and will have more info afterwards.

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[maverick]

It can be extremely popular, especially the classic photo spots, something like the zoo in Yosemite Valley, when people go to photograph Horsetail Falls in Feb.

[Tom_H]

I have hiked almost every trail in Uncompaghre. It is very beautiful and isolated. We almost never saw another soul. It has some decent climbing and magnificent big mountain scenery. The rock is limestone, not granite. Uncompaghre Peak is a spectacular walk up climb while Wetterhorn Peak has some dramatic exposure on a 5.6 level technical climb. Both are fourteeners. We bivvied on top of Uncompaghre Peak one night and at sunset counted 6 bald and 8 golden eagles at one time soaring up and down all the surrounding drainages. I also saw a lot of Alpenglow, John Denver's Fire in the Sky, in Uncompaghre at sunset. There is some fishing in streams, but almost no lakes. There are a couple of ways to put together loops via parallel valleys, as well as a few ways to do lollipop shaped routes. You can camp at just about any place you can get to. Points of entry are mainly in aspen groves, which fade to conifer forest, then give way to open alpine meadows well above the tree line. Google image search will give you some good photos. Here is an old map of mine showing the trails.

https://caltopo.com/m/5S5E

If you can make it down to the Pecos wilderness in NM, the terrain is not as rugged as Uncompaghre, and the scenery softer with more wildflower filled meadows (gone by Sept) and bigger streams for fishing. Elevation isn't as high as Uncompaghre and not much is above tree line, but a very beautiful place for backpacking in my mind. In both of these wildernesses I have been able to spot a full heard of elk, take off my pack, and quietly walk right at the back of the herd for a couple of miles. That was exhilarating.

[Teresa Gergen]

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[Tom_H]

Expect hunters everywhere in CO in Sept.

RMNP-no hunting.

Uncompaghre used to be full of trash from old hunting and sheep herders' camps. Our outfit cleaned and bagged virtually every bit of it and USFS came in with mules and hauled it out. Uncompaghre (which is a portion of the San Juans) is a wilderness area now, so I believe the hunters and sheep both are gone.