Holwick Colorado vacation, 1997
Molas Pass
This hike was inspired by a magazine article in a doctor's office that listed the best hiking in each state, and Molas Pass won for Colorado. Toward the end of July we drove up the Million Dollar highway to Molas Lake and parked in the lot. A short way down the road a trail started up to the right. It is one of the most popular segments of the Colorado Trail. The area is remarkable because it had a catastrophic forest fire 100 years ago and most of the trees never came back. As a result the trail has open vistas the entire way. We hiked for three days and two nights. The highest point was over 12,000 feet.
Flowers, flowers, everywhere! The colors were dazzling. We also enjoyed the abundant water. In the photo at left, we are resting in a bowl-shaped canyon (I think it's called a cirque and is carved by glaciers). A Mexican sheep herder had his camp here and two waterfalls graced the meadow. While we rested, two different groups passed us. Mountain bikes were very popular. Many of them had busted brakes by the time they reached us but they were too macho to give up.
At right is our blue tent just below Jura Knob at 12,000 feet. One other campsite was nearby but we could not see even them. We had wanted to make it down to a large waterfall but Dad gave out. We purified stream water for our oriental noodles and went to bed exhausted.
