Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/310878
ometime around 7:30 AM, the sun starts to appear above Pyramid Peak, which looms 5,000 feet above me. I am jogging with Huck, my Pyrenees dog, bound- ing on a leash ahead as he excitedly leads the way. He might love this jaunt even more than I. We are moving at a steady pace up the West Maroon Trail while trying to catch my 70-year-old mother. I thought we would have caught her by now, but no dice. She gets invigorated by these mountains and likes to put her speed hike on. She left at 5:30 AM on her annual trek to Crested Butte— one of her favorite summer outings. Some of her Crested Butte friends are coming from the other side, and we will all meet atop the 12,500-foot West Maroon Pass. From there, my mother and her gang will go back to the Butte, and I will jog back to the Aspen side so I can be at work the next day. Call it a 10-mile out-and-back on one of the most spectacular trails in the world. Huck and I have been huffing now for nearly an hour, leaving behind the more crowded sections around Maroon and Crater Lakes. It's just us and the occasional high-pitched whistle of a marmot. We cross the babbling West Maroon Creek via a small beaver dam and crest a rocky ridge. Suddenly, the S Author Pete McBride and his Pyrenees pup, Huck, travel via West Maroon Pass to Crested Butte. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF PETER MCBRIDE 52 ASPENPEAK-MAGAZINE.COM LIVING THE LIFE 050-056_AP_FOB_LivingTheLife_SUM_FALL_14.indd 52 5/6/14 2:39 PM