Backpacking in the Maroon Bells Wilderness

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		Chapter 2 Backpack up West Maroon Creek Trail

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After landing at Denver Airport on Saturday morning, we picked up our rental car, stopped off at the Denver REI store for last minute supplies (mainly fuel bottles for our camping stove which are not allowed in your airline luggage), and then drove to the town of Carbondale, just north of Aspen. We stayed there for the night at Thunder River Lodge.

The next morning we got an early start for our drive to the West Maroon trailhead (elev. = 9,580 ft). There was lots of paved parking areas at the trailhead and nice vault toilets. By the way, they don't let you drive up to the trailhead unless you're backpacking in the area. Day hikers have to park back near Aspen and take a shuttle bus up the access road to the trailhead. (For more info on the shuttle bus Click Here!). At the trailhead is Maroon Lake. A beautiful lake with a great scenic view of the Maroon Bells.

West Maroon Creek trailhead

We park at the trailhead and unload our gear from the car.

Maroon Lake and the Maroon Bells

The magnificent Maroon Bells from the shores of Maroon Lake.
This view is just a short hop, skip, and a jump from the parking lot.
The trail leads from here up the valley towards the "Bells" and then curves off to the left.

From the trailhead, we hiked about 1.7 miles to Crater Lake where we stopped for a rest break and snack. At the lake the trail forks. Either you can head west up and over Buckskin Pass or you can head south up West Maroon Creek trail. We chose the later.

The guide books had warned us that past the second crossing of the West Maroon creek there were no good campsites. The best ones were between the two crossings. We passed a few poor campsites right before the first crossing and continued on. A little more than halfway to the second crossing we found a good campsite off to the right. A small faint trail led thru the underbrush to the site that overlooked the creek that was down in a steep ravine. We were pretty much out of site from the trail which was nice.

The Maroon Bells from Crater Lake

We snack at Crater lake and enjoy our view of the "Bells".

Our campsite along the West Maroon Creek trail

Our campsite alongside West Maroon Creek trail. The creek was in a deep ravine just beyond the tent. Don't want to go sleep walking in that direction! :-)

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last revised : January 13, 2007