“Maroon Bells, Cotton Candy Skies”

This is possibly the most famous view in all of Colorado (with the possible exception of Pike’s Peak and the Garden of the Gods). My son Stanley and I were spending a few days backpacking in the Maroon Bells / Snowmass wilderness near Aspen, Colorado, and this beautiful cloud formation and still water greeted us. We met up with a hailstorm on day 1, and set up camp just below timberline. We crossed the alpine tundra and an ocean of wildflowers and scaled a thirteener on day 2. The “bells” take your breath away any season, any time of day. They are made of crumbling sandstone, and are an extremely treacherous climb.

Aspen, Colorado, August, 1999