14ers.com • Peak Condition Update

Peak:	North Maroon Peak (Unranked 14er)
Route:	Northeast Ridge
Range:	Elk
Posted By:	PikaSteve
Date of Info:	08/28/2020
Date Posted:	08/29/2020

Details
No crowds, no smoke and no snow (yet). Aspen leaves still 99% green, but some alpine grasses and willows turning golden. Pikas busy harvesting. At 4:30am, only 8 cars in day use lot due to parking reservation system. I was alone climbing North Maroon. I passed three photographers at Maroon Lake, saw one headlamp ascending Pyramid and later met eleven climbers traversing from Maroon Peak. CFI trail from Minnehaha gulch to rock glacier was almost a paved stairway. This would have been easy to navigate by headlamp if I had left an hour earlier. Chimney was a good challenge made easier with approach shoes and helpful trip reports (thanks Daway8). Route finding above chimney was made easy with 14ers.com.photos. Didn't see any goats until descent where goat family quietly watched climbers from cliff above crossing from Second Gully to First Gully. Reached bottom of "First Gully" just as first downpour started. Rain stopped enough to make a double rainbow below rock glacier, then resumed to make a sloppy trail back to Maroon Lake where the final crux move was avoiding the moose. Photos (click for slideshow):

Details

No crowds, no smoke and no snow (yet). Aspen leaves still 99% green, but some alpine grasses and willows turning golden. Pikas busy harvesting.

At 4:30am, only 8 cars in day use lot due to parking reservation system. I was alone climbing North Maroon. I passed three photographers at Maroon Lake, saw one headlamp ascending Pyramid and later met eleven climbers traversing from Maroon Peak.
CFI trail from Minnehaha gulch to rock glacier was almost a paved stairway. This would have been easy to navigate by headlamp if I had left an hour earlier.
Chimney was a good challenge made easier with approach shoes and helpful trip reports (thanks Daway8). Route finding above chimney was made easy with 14ers.com.photos.
Didn't see any goats until descent where goat family quietly watched climbers from cliff above crossing from Second Gully to First Gully. Reached bottom of "First Gully" just as first downpour started. Rain stopped enough to make a double rainbow below rock glacier, then resumed to make a sloppy trail back to Maroon Lake where the final crux move was avoiding the moose.

Photos (click for slideshow):

Comments or Questions

ashley g	Thank you! 08/29/2020 23:32 Thank you for the report! Looking forward to my attempt planned for Monday.
daway8	Happy to help 08/29/2020 23:36 Glad someone was able to make use of the report - that was a fun peak - I may have to go back and do that one again one of these days.
PikaSteve	Definitely a fun peak 08/30/2020 09:01 AshleyG: have a fun hike; I really enjoyed the variety of hiking/climbing, scenery and wildlife throughout the hike (I'm partial to Pika's). I even enjoyed the variety of weather. Daway8: thanks again for the info on North Maroon (and Little Bear); not sure when I will be getting to Chicago Basin, but will definitely study your Sunlight report before I go.
k_fergie	Passed you 08/31/2020 20:58 I was one of the climbers in the party of two that caught and passed you running down the second gully; we mobbed down in fear of all of the distant rumbling thunder, though the rain/rainbow were appreciated! I was going so fast I even missed the mountain goat family, still had to tackle the final crux of passing that big moose before the parking lot
k_fergie	Passed you 08/31/2020 20:59 I was one of the climbers in the party of two that caught and passed you running down the second gully; we mobbed down in fear of all of the distant rumbling thunder, though the rain/rainbow were appreciated! I was going so fast I even missed the mountain goat family, still had to tackle the final crux of passing that big moose before the parking lot