Colorado Adventure 2009 – Independence & Pearl Pass – Part 1

On Day 4 we slept in a little bit longer than on the previous days before getting up and breaking down camp. As I stated in the first post on this trip report, Amanda only had 4 days with me before she had to go back to work. Being the 4th day, we needed to head back to Grand Junction this day. There was one trail that I was not able to check out earlier on the trip because it was not yet clear of snow accoriding to my research before leaving, however, after checking again the night before, I knew it was now passable……so we made our way over to Pearl Pass on our way home.

In order to get to Pearl Pass we needed to head over to Aspen. I decided to head over Independence Pass. Even though it’s paved, I figured since I had not drivin it before, I might as well check it out at least once…

Once in Aspen we headed up Express Creek Road to the start of Pearl Pass. This was an amazing trail and probably one of my favorites in the state! So let me warn you, I was a little camera happy and took a ton of photos……and I’m going to post a bunch of them. So if you don’t like looking at photos of great trail scenery, then you may want to go read another thread instead 😉 On to the photos….

Start of the trail

Waterfall along the trail

Recently repaired bridge

Now above the waterfall


Another sign as we climb higher

You can see the Montezuma Basin trail in the distance

Pearl Pass photos to be continued….I’m posting a bunch, so I’m splitting this one into two seperate posts.