Maroon Bells – Snowmass Wilderness | Saturday & Sunday, July 27-28, 2024
Last year Diane and I had a permit and planned to spend a weekend camping at Geneva Lake in the Maroon Bells – Snowmass Wilderness, but after we had driven most of the way to the trailhead we were turned around by a very slick and muddy road and the weather forecast for the rest of the weekend wasn’t looking too good, so we decided to call it a weekend and headed back home instead. I decided to give the same trip a try this summer and grabbed another camping permit for Geneva Lake, but this time Diane was out of town so I invited my friend Jackson to come along with me. I picked up Jackson early on Saturday morning and we drove around the Grand Mesa, over McClure Pass and then followed the Crystal River up to the trailhead in Lead King Basin where we shouldered our packs and started hiking up the trail to Geneva Lake.
Arriving at the Geneva Lake Trailhead.
There was a nice view from the trailhead as we made sure we had everything we needed in our packs for the weekend.
Starting our hike among the wilting wildflowers of the Geneva Lake Trail.
Welcome to the Maroon Bells – Snowmass Wilderness.
Looking back from the trail to Treasure Mountain.
Although it’s a pretty short distance to Geneva Lake, this hike wore me down pretty quickly. I’m not sure if it was because of the warm and humid temperature today or because of the steepness of the trail, but I was exhausted by the time we found a campsite. There were also a ton of flies buzzing around that were very annoying.
Geneva Lake & Snowmass Mountain
When we first arrived at our campsite, this lazy little marmot was hanging around and watching us.
After resting for a while at our campsite we hiked a little further up into the basin which offered nice views of Snowmass Mountain and Hagerman Peak.
Following the trail to Little Gem Lake.
Little Gem Lake
We hiked a little further beyond Little Gem Lake, but didn’t make it all the way to Siberia Lake this afternoon because our legs were pretty tired.
Jackson on the trail to Siberia Lake.
This was the view from our turnaround point.
Headed back down to camp…
Our home for the night.
We had a good view of the S-Ridge on Snowmass Mountain from our campsite.
After having dinner we wandered down to Geneva Lake before sunset.
Geneva Lake Reflection
The last light on Snowmass Mountain before I retired to my tent to get away from the hordes of mosquitoes and to get to bed early.
On Sunday morning we were up early and hiking past Little Gem Lake shortly after sunrise on our way to Siberia Lake.
After a good night of rest our legs were in much better shape and we had no problems reaching Siberia Lake.
Siberia Lake Reflection
After wandering around the edges of the lake for a while, we eventually started our hike back down to camp.
Little Gem Lake Reflection
Hiking back down the trail to our campsite.
After packing up camp we finished the rest of the hike back down to my Jeep and then headed home.
Flowers & Falls
