Sept. 26, 2014

By Tim Briese

7.0 miles, 600’ elevation gain, 5:30 roundtrip time

When September rolls around it seems that half the people in Colorado, along with throngs of tourists from everywhere else take to the hills to see the dazzling displays of aspen trees in the mountains when their leaves turn gold. My wife Teresa and I have done this many times too and have seen and hiked in numerous places with beautiful displays of aspens. This trip report describes one of the very best hikes we have found for viewing aspen colors.

The Maroon Bells area outside of Aspen is world-renowned for its scenery, and especially in September when the vast stands of aspens in the area turn flaming yellow. It is so popular that the Maroon Creek Road up to Maroon Lake is open only to shuttle buses most of the time. When we were last there one could drive a private vehicle up the road before 8 am but parking filled up so fast that one actually had to drive up before 7 am to get a parking spot. It is best to go about the third or fourth week of September to see the peak of the colors. Getting an update about the status of the colors before you go from the Aspen Ranger District is a good idea. Weekdays are obviously better than weekends to avoid some of the crowds. And finally, it is definitely best to go there on a clear sunny day because sunlight enhances the colors dramatically.

After we drove up the Maroon Creek Road and parked we took the short walk to Maroon Lake along with a throng of other people to see the world famous view of the Maroon Bells above the lake. People lined the shore of the lake to view and photograph the scene before them, some with very fancy photo equipment.

the maroon bells rise majestically above maroon lake

tourists and photographers lining the shore of the lake

After walking most of the way along the lake we left the main trail and took a dirt trail that headed up into the large meadow to the right. We left almost everyone behind at this point because most people who want to hike further than the lake choose to take the popular trail up toward Crater Lake. That is a nice aspen hike for a ways, too, but the trail we will describe here is much better for aspen viewing in our opinion. We took the trail way up into the meadow, climbing a couple of hundred feet. Then the trail turned to the right and entered a vast aspen grove, and we feasted our eyes on the beautiful yellow trees with the sunshine shining through them! 

the following photos were taken on the hike through the aspen forest northeast of maroon lake

the maroon bells could be seen through the trees in some places

the northern ramparts of pyramid peak were visible at times to the south

walking under a canopy of gold!

The trail winds through the trees for about a half mile to the West Maroon Portal parking area.  It is nice that the hiking is mostly downhill now for the next couple of miles, which makes for very pleasant hiking.  The trail goes southeast from the parking area and crosses the Maroon Creek Road and shortly after that crosses West Maroon Creek on a nice bridge. On the other side of the creek there is a junction with the West Maroon Creek Trail. We followed this trail to the left, downhill along the creek. We were now hiking away from the crowds at Maroon Lake and saw only a handful of people on this trail.

on the west maroon creek trail

aspens along the trail

leaves adorning the ground on the trail

We followed this trail a little over a mile until we reached the junction with the East Maroon Creek Trail. At this point there was a nice view back up the valley toward the Maroon Bells.

looking back up the valley toward the maroon bells

We turned right and headed south up the East Maroon Creek Trail. There were great views of dazzling displays of aspens along this trail.  At times we walked right through aspen groves and at other times we enjoyed stands of golden yellow aspens visible on the slopes above or on the other side of the valley.

the following photos were taken along the east maroon creek trail

an interesting grove of taller aspens is left standing by avalanches that swept by on both sides at some time in the past

The uphill grades were generally quite gentle and we saw only a small handful of people. Eventually the aspen trees got smaller as we hiked further up the valley. We went about two miles up the trail from the junction before stopping for a nice lunch break and then we turned back. We suggest going at least one mile up the trail, if not two, to see the best of the aspen colors. When we returned to the West Maroon/East Maroon Creek trail junction we pondered hiking back up the West Maroon Creek Trail to the parking area at Maroon Lake, but we would have had to regain about 600 feet of elevation to do so. We decided on a more pleasant option which was to continue north down the valley on the East Maroon Creek Trail about a mile and half to the East Maroon Portal, where we were able to catch the free shuttle bus that took us back up to Maroon Lake. We had checked the bus schedule ahead of time to make sure we could catch it before its last run at 5 pm. When we were there it had adequate room on the afternoon runs to pick up hikers.  This option allowed us to see even more beauty along the way.

the view up the valley from the trail junction when we returned to it in the afternoon

aspens in the valley below

aspens along the trail on our way down to the east maroon portal

Doing this route as we have described allows for mostly easy downhill hiking. This wonderful hike showcases gorgeous displays of aspen colors in relative solitude in an incredibly beautiful place.