Maroon Bells and Crater Lake are located in the White River National Forest near Aspen, Colorado. Both lakes are picturesque and shouldn’t be missed on your trip to Colorado.

White River National Forest Highlights on Monday, September 4, 2017

• Maroon Bells
• Crater Lake

We woke up early and on a mission! From my research, I knew we had to arrive at Maroon Bells before 8 am if we wanted a chance to park in the Maroon Bells parking lot. The drive through Aspen, Colorado on the way to Maroon Bells is beautiful. In the GPS, I used 76 Boomerang Rd, Aspen, CO 81611 to guide our drive, which I believe is a parking structure. Instead of stopping here, we continued along the road for a few more minutes until we came to a toll booth at the entrance of the White River National Forest. It was a definite bonus to learn that the Annual National Park Pass that I’ve written so much about works here too and saves you $10! Once we showed our pass and got a map, we followed the signs to the day parking where there were rangers who guided us to an open parking spot. We were parked by 7:30 am and thankful because the lot filled up quickly and if you can’t find day parking before 8 am, you have to park in the parking garage and pay for a shuttle. I found this site as well as this other site to be super informative as I was planning. From everything I had read, Maroon Bells is one of the most photographed sites in Colorado and after a visit, this is no surprise.

The walk up to the lake, Maroon Bells, is incredible. In the morning, the reflections of the mountain on the water will fill up your iPhone memory space. I still can’t believe we were here. There were families posing by the lake, dogs being walked and kids laughing. There are a few different hikes you can take. We started off by walking around Maroon Lake on the Maroon Lake Trail and then continued to the Scenic Loop Trail. Take your time and remember to look up and behind you to really appreciate its beauty. Don’t miss the beaver dam either.

We saw signs for Crater Lake Trail and decided to check it out. The map says it’s a 3.6 mile round-trip hike. The hike is a bit intense as it’s primarily uphill and there are different terrains, including sections that are rocky. There are different spots along the trail to “pull over” and let people pass you that are inclined to walk faster. We were tired, so we gladly let people pass as we made our way to the top. Once you clear the final trees at the top, there is a magnificent lake called Crater Lake.

There are lots of logs you can sit on and enjoy your snack or lunch. Tons of ducks were relaxing on the logs in the water, while others were dipping their heads in the water for their own lunch.

The walk down was much easier than the hike up. As you make your way down, make sure to keep an eye out for the opening where you can get some good shots of Maroon Bells. There are also tons of lovely birch trees to photograph too.

We probably could have stayed here all day, but we got to the car, where the parking lot had significantly emptied since the morning and made the approximately 3.5 hour drive to the Grand Lake entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park. This was recommended to us by the ranger at Canyonlands and we are so thankful we took her advice! When we saw Grand Lake, we started to reminisce about our time walking and biking along Lake Zurich in Switzerland.

Check out our article tomorrow about our evening and following morning exploring Rocky Mountain National Park before we round out our trip in Denver.