Aspen

Take the Route 133. Your navigation will send you through I-70 which is faster to Aspen and you may be tempted to follow the quicker route. Resist. Just take 133 and you can thank me later. You will first have to take 92 from the town of Delta though. It's the same town I descended to coming from Grand Mesa. Then switch to 133 in the town of Hotchkiss.

The route 92/133 splits between Grand Mesa and Gunnison Gorge. It follows Gunnison River and then veers to the north to Aspen. The snow-capped mountains running toward Aspen will soon follow you all all the way to Route 82, the final leg to Aspen. Do make a stop at small towns along the way and click away. They are picturesque enough if not quaint. Before you go over the McClure pass, you will see a dirt road that veers to the right up the ridge. It is Ragged Mountain Road. Follow it as far as you can as I did in my low slung Tesla. Then a 180 degree view of snow capped mountains will open up right in front of your eyes. To the left is the Baxter Peak north of Glenwood Springs. On the right are Capitol Peak, Maroon Peak and Mt. Baldy. Behind those peaks is the town of Aspen.

The canyon that I-70 runs through from Glenwood Springs to Hanging Lake is stunning though. So do make side trip to Glenwood Springs and drive along the river for a while. Steve, the young fellow from Raleigh made a trip there and said that there are several hot springs, and hot girls. He was camping across me at Silver Bell campground. He's taking his buddies there. They just finished East-West Maroon loop backpacking for 4 days while Steve was enjoying the hot girls and soaking in hot springs after a hard work will be a treat for them. The river that runs through the canyon seems to be a good place for white water rafting if you don't mind the water being a  little muddy. Make sure to avoid rainy days though; The canyon walls are steep and loose, and therefore prone to landslides that frequently closes I-70.

I got to Aspen in the Evening. It's only 130 miles, but I apparently made too many stops along the way. Late start at 11AM may something has to do with it as well.  I tried to make it to the dispersed camping site at Lincoln Creek, 15 miles from the town of Aspen. I made about a mile up the road before turning around; the dirt road was getting too rough for my Tesla.  There were a half dozen sites at the beginning, but they were all taken. arriving late on Saturday apparently is not good way to secure a camping site.  I have an option of sleeping in the car; I turned around and came back to town. 

This is rather a pretentious town. All Asian foods were fusion catering to the moneyed that are not so discerning for authenticity. Then I found one that servers noodle soup that was 6 miles away. You have to go up the mountain behind Aspen Inn where Tesla superchargers were located and then come to a condo village that is seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The village had a mall and Thai Grub was inside of it. After a plate of noodle and soup I was whole again. I came back to Aspen Inn, made bed, crawled in and had a good sleep.

In the morning I came back to Maroon Bells. The ranger told me the evening before that I could simply self-pay and drive up if I came before 7AM. No reservation necessary. I did the Maroon Lake Scenic Loop and then came back down to the entrance for the campsite before 10AM. Two sites were available just as the ranger told me the evening before, and I took one. The campsite is between the Maroon Creek Road and Maroon Creek and the road certainly is much nicer than the one to Lincoln Creek. The tent site was too far away from the car though. I had to build my kitchen on the camping table. Not as convenient, but it'll do for 2 more days.

I'm cutting Aspen down to 3 days from 5. Other than Maroon Bells hiking, there isn't much to do in Aspen. I could hang out in town, but one afternoon of that will be enough. Which means I'll have 2 spare days before hitting RMNP on the 29th. I can have one more day of rest in Vail/Breckenridge, and still have another day left to do Rocky Mountain Ramble, RD Best Scenic Drive #39. I'll drive from Georgetown to Grand Lake on 28th, sleep in Grand Lake and then go to Glacier Basin campsite. 

So far so good; everything is still working out. Let's cross the fingers for RMNP, the grand finale.