Ever since Katie and I moved to Utah, we’ve been slowly losing touch with friends and family back home. Although we visit a few brief weekends every year, it’s hard to see everyone we’d like to. In August, a couple old friends from high school wanted to get out of town for a weekend and I quickly recommended the Maroon Bells-Snowmass area in western Colorado. Firstly, this pristine wilderness outside of Aspen is lightly traveled and would be perfect for a three night backpacking trek for us. Secondly, western Colorado is directly between SLC and Lincoln so I could easily meet them there.
Right out of the gate our plans had to change: an increase in bear activity caused the park service to require bear canisters instead of bear bags for all backcountry trips. We called every outfitter in a 100 mile radius and they were all sold out so we settled on some local tent camping with a few light dayhikes in the area.
