Round-trip Distance: 4 miles
Sleeping Sexton
Maroon Bells
Pyramid Peak
We parked at the Aspen Highlands and took the mandatory, but interesting, bus tour up the paved road to Maroon Lake. The scenery there was spectacular as I had remembered it. Mom, Dad, Uncle John and I all headed up the trail from there to Crater Lake, completing the hike under the hot sun in about 1 1/2 hours. It's been six years since I hiked these trails, and I had never had a chance to take the time to appreciate the scenery from Crater Lake. Today it was enjoyable to remember the times on the Bells and Pyramid Peak, and capture a glimpse of "Thunder Pyramid" again--which I hope to climb someday.
On the return hike I met up with none other than Scott Patterson, whom I had not seen in six or seven years. I talked to him for a few minutes, and he was exactly as I remembered him. His son Kessler is now 10 years old and has climbed over three hundred mountains already!