Maroon Bells

The most photographed place in Colorado.

I think one of the coolest things about social media is that you see where other people are traveling, and occasionally, you get to meet up with them! I met my friend Damon in Aspen, Colorado, and we checked out the incredibly clear water, aspen trees, and of course, the mountains. Social media also blasted me with people who were going "tree peeping" to see the leaves change color, but being from the Midwest, Damon and I were not overly impressed by the yellow leaves.

To visit this iconic spot, you must have a parking permit (to park at the trailhead) or take a shuttle (May-October). Both options require a lot of planning ahead, which we didn't do, but luckily, there are first-come, first-served shuttle passes sold every day! I knew these would be limited, so I got the Welcome Center early and was able to snag us each a round-trip ticket. As soon as Damon arrived, we hopped on the shuttle and were off!

We started off hiking the Maroon Bells scenic loop, which is very accessible to people of all mobility levels and offers a stunning view of the mountains (pictured above). Then we headed towards Crater Lake, which was a little more challenging. By this time in my journey, I'd done a lot of hiking and thought I was a pro, but Damon proved me wrong. He hiked FAST, and I was huffing and puffing to keep up. Even faster was a park ranger who lapped us twice. Damon and I had big plans to swim when we got to Crater Lake but unfortunately, it was very low and more of a big pond. Either way, the scenery was beautiful.

Both of these hikes were decently crowded and I can only imagine what it's like during peak season but crowds or not, it was beautiful.

Crater Lake

3.5 miles

688 feet elevation gain