Aspen's Stunning Maroon Bells & the Breathtaking Hanging Lake Trail

On a recent summer weekend, Chris and I decided to stop off in Aspen on our way to Glenwood Springs to hike the Hanging Lake trail. Aspen is roughly four hours away from Denver, and neither one of us had been before, but it’s only about an hour from Glenwood Springs, so we figured it would make for a perfect weekend jaunt.

At first we weren’t sure what to check out since we would have limited time, but after a little research, we assessed that seeing the Maroon Bells was an absolute must do. According to some sources, these mountain ranges are the most photographed mountains in all of North American — and now we know why.

During the summer the trail into the Maroon Bells site is closed to individual cars from 8 to 5 p.m. (unless you have a child under 2, or a few other contingencies), but you can catch a bus for $6 per person from Aspen Highlands, and they have free parking for Maroon Bell visitors as well. The parking lot does fill up quickly though, so you kind of need to test your luck. We did get lucky, though, because we arrived around 2 and were able to find a spot right away.

It was meant to be.

Here’s a bit of the (spectacular) views …

This lake on the way into Aspen was too pretty not to pull off to the side of the road and photograph.

The Aspen Highlands, where we parked and caught the bus into Maroon Bells.

Gorgeous mountain views.

The Maroon Bells are two peaks in the Elk Mountains — Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak — separated by about a third of a mile. You can hike them (they’re considered ’14ers’ — aka the name that Coloradans have given to certain mountains in the state that are above 14,000 feet), but the terrain is very difficult, so you should definitely do your research and train beforehand.

There is another little hike, about 3 miles, running away from the mountains, that Chris and I will definitely be back to do at some point in the near future.

We loved these wildflowers!   

Cheryl Lock

Cheryl Lock is a former magazine, newspaper and website editor turned full-time freelance writer. She has worked on staff at the Daytona Beach News-Journal, More and Parents magazines, as well as for Learnvest, the leading women's financial website. Her work has also appeared in Newsweek, Forbes, Ladies' Home Journal, the Huffington Post, AOL Travel and more.

Cheryl was born in Nuremberg, Germany and grew up moving around every few years as an Army brat. The urge to travel has been with her her whole life. While she calls New York City home, Cheryl makes it a priority to travel as much as possible throughout the year. Some of her favorite places include Iceland, the Great Barrier Beef, Cabo, Rome, Calabria and Munich, although she hopes to never stop exploring. Cheryl blogs about her travel adventures (and what's happening in and around New York City) at Weary Wanderer.