snowmass-capitol backpacking loop

[rdp32]

I really have to start using Google Earth! Thanks again for the input. I really want to do this loop but may hold off until next year to give me 4 days to do it (just in case I need the extra day). I have many other routes on my bucket list, though...

[TallGrass]

Thanks all for the input! I didn't even know that the "Haystack Pass trail" was an "old" trail

To clarify, it's not old like abandoned or de-listed, but appears it may have been re-routed slightly along more sustainable features (less erosion prone, better protected, gentler slope) at some point where earlier sections may persist. Footpaths can predate the USFS.

[JTOlson26]

The trek to Moon lake and the evening spent there is one of my fondest mountain memories. Getting there was hell.

I really want to go back now that I have a better idea of the area. We only saw one group (two people) and it was fairly early in the day. A fairly remote feel for a sometimes busy area on the whole.

[rdp32]

"The trek to Moon lake and the evening spent there is one of my fondest mountain memories. Getting there was hell."

I'm not sure if that inspires me to go there or not!

[docjohn]

Check out http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... m=tripmine" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, my experience getting to and from the Moon Lake area from Snowmass Trailhead. It was a dry summer, I walked across Snowmass Ck with dry boots. The highlight is still getting lost, up and down, in the timber where you intersect the Haystack Trail. I ran into a group that packed over Capitol Pass down to Haystack, but completely avoided the bad stuff. I think they found a traverse north from below Moon Lake, thenfound a timberline route and meadows down. Have fun.