Aspen in October - John Denver Week

We spent the last 5 days in Aspen (mostly for the John Denver celebrations and tribute concerts) but we hiked and biked too. On Friday, we took a 6 mile hike in the Maroon Bells

 to Maroon Lake and then to Crater Lake.

An avalanche area.

On Saturday we went to a "cookout" inside for more tributes.  We got to meet and talk with John's second wife, Cassandra (from Sydney) and daughter,Jesse Belle.

Then we visited a ghost town, Ashcroft.

On Sunday we went to the Windstar Foundation (a land conservancy) where there were more musicians and tributes.  The land conserves 1,000 acres with the purpose of regenerating wetlands.

Jim Connor, who wrote and is singing Grandma's Feather Bed.

Another concert Sunday night with the John Adams Band

Getting to Aspen

Why they call it Aspen. We took this picture from a little way up Aspen Mountain looking back down on the town.

Last Week's Hike

We took this hike on Sunday of last week, then drove to Tucson on Monday - spent a week warming up and now we're back in Keystone (yes there is snow on the mountains).

The hike up to the top of Mount Royal was only 4.6 miles round trip, but we started at 9,100' and climbed to over 10,425'.  Considering that the first .03 mile was flat and getting to the start of the climb, Bart has figured that the average gradient for the climb part was 16-17%.  All I know is that it was straignt up and then straight down.  I was very glad to get to the cairn at the top.

The view from the top.

That's route 70 way down there (which is where we started).