We decided to hike to Buckskin pass today. It was a fairly long hike but we had all day, plus it was only 8am when we started that we decided to go for it.

You can see from the picture to the left that they had a pretty decent hail storm here the previous evening - which is why we opted for a cheap hotel room rather than a tent!

The trail was pretty nice - the start was a very gentle grade which switched to moderate once we got past Crater Lake.

This is where the grade increased a bit. We had a good pace going - or so we thought.

Just around the bend in the photo another hiker approached us from behind and just soared on by. She was almost running up the trail. We met up with her husband as he caught up to us and he explained that she lives here year round is a work out fanatic - explains the amazing fitness level of this girl. She made it to the top before we even crested the valley. She the proceeded to turn around, come back down a ways and meet up with her hubby and sumit again! Meanwhile Mark and I are marvling at her endurance.

We're sea level folk and all but consider ourselves at a pretty decent fitness level but man - she ran circles around us!

Day 6 of our Colorado Trip start VERY early! Mark wanted to get up and catch a sunrise at Maroon Bells and to do this we had to start around 4:30 am to get there in time.

We arrived and lugged the camera gear out to a suitable spot to find that we're not the only crazies in the bunch - there were two other photographers out there with us!

The white rock in the center of the photo is the pass we're aiming for. It's all very deceptive - you see it and it looms but you don't ever seem to get any closer. We didn't mind though, the views were amazing!!

The trek down was less than eventful. We moved quickly becuase we could feel the rain coming in. However, that didn't deter my little photographer husband who had to stop and take shot of the stream.

There was a great campsite just across this stream and back up a little hill. It was covered and had a great view!!!

We did make it down without getting rained on, somehow we dodged it because the cars where wet and the trails were muddy when we got back but we didn't seem to feel any of it while we were walking.

Here's the view looking back from about 1/3 of the way up the last stretch.

Maroon bells is off to your right (the backside at least) and the valley we came up starts to the left and wraps around to the center of the photo.

We spent the next 2 hours watching and waiting and freezing! Mark's especially hot bodied because he was not cold at all while I on the other hand sat and shivered!

Final the sun crested the mountains behind us and Mark declared the photo session over! Time for breakfast and gearing up for our hike for the day.

So after I think 50 switch backs we hit the pass and it was worth every muscle pang we felt. The gentleman and his bionic wife and dog were already at the top taking a break before heading back down and graciously took this photo for us.

This is looking back down to where we came from and where we'll head back to when we're done playing model.

Mark dropped back a bit here to photograph the entire scene. I was on my way up to the first set of switchbacks on the final push for the pass.

This bowl was beautiful and while the wildflowers were blooming, they couldn't compete with Ice Lakes!

This is from the pass as well, looking down the other side towards Snowmass mountain and a few other peaks that I knew at the time but don't now:)