The Four Passes Loop: Day One



A stop for lunch at treeline below West Maroon Pass. We assessed the situation. Dad folded to the ground and devoured a sandwich in near silence. Mum stopped talking for more than a minute. They were tired. We rijigged our loads and saddled up again, inching our way towards summit number one, and crested it by noon. Five hours of hiking and only three passes left to go.
The going got easier. My parents found their stride: the altitude tempering their enthusiasm and them coming to terms with the needed moderation in the pace. We made slower progress, but less puffing, less worry that the thin air would fail to support the huge packs on our back. We stopped at a small lake below Frigid Air Pass and looked up at the final push. Reclining on our packs, the alpine wind just preventing that easy trailside snooze. Then we started up the slopes when we were ready, a better understanding already about what this trip would take to get to the end.
We crested without problem and admired the views south towards Mount Crested Butte, and west to Maroon Peak, and all around at the expanse of the Elk Mountains for which we didn’t have the time to name. From the top of Frigid Air Pass, the campground was within reach. Downhill to finish line number one. A long way down. The valley, and Fravert Basin, stretched below us. We set off in search of King Falls. The destination for this evening. It was a long way down. An hour of downhill and we took a break. Sat on a downed tree and ate an apple. The rain sprinkled lightly and a little harder, and the mix of dried sweat and warmth started to dissipate in the colder evening air. We strolled along next to the Crystal River. The crackling and roaring as it approached the falls, and we plummeted with it as it dropped. We pitched ourselves at the bottom. The clear pools slowly exiting the falls and working their way down through the broad meadow below. The fire started slowly among the damp foliage. Fail attempts at fire and a slow burning stove tested our meagre energy reserves. But tea was brewed and food cooked.
Fire warmed us until the sleeping bags called us into their anticipated warmth. Sleep came quickly. Broken, fitful camp sleep. Elk herds bugled in lengthy conversations in the trees above us. Camp sleep - not the quality you're used to, but filled with quality of its own.


