Wake early and don’t get side tracked as you walk past the groups lining Maroon Lake anticipating the first light of morning. Enjoy the moderate hike up to the base of the Maroon Bells and, if you are lucky, the surface of Crater Lake will resemble a mirror lying flat and reflecting images of Colorado’s incredible high country.

Most everyone has seen images of the Maroon Bells. Not far from Aspen Colorado, the beauty of the Bells is without equal but the rock is fractured and loose. Composed of metamorphic sedimentary mudstone that has hardened into rock over millions of years, to rock climbers, it is not the rock of choice. In fact, on a sign at the bottom of the Crater Lake trail the forest service refers to the Maroon Bells as the “Deadly Bells”. Anyway, most of us come to admirer their splendor.