Maroon Bells

The Four Pass Loop in the Maroon Bells region near Aspen, Colorado is a landscape which enforces slowness. The grade of the switchbacking hiking trails pace your progress through the land, and the stunning flood of vibrant green hues of the mountainsides, forests, and meadows leave your eyes hungry to take in the scenery all at once. You feel desperate imprint it on you sensory memory, lest you forget a single detail. The addictive aroma of wildflowers under picture perfect, cobalt blue skies bleeds seamlessly into afternoon storms with a delicious gloom and scent of damp earth well loved by melancholy souls.

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The "most photographed mountains in North America" make not only a great backdrop for that family picture of your Aspen vacation, but the easy nature walk around Crater Lake at the base is a gentle introduction to hiking for the smaller set. Stop along the way to skip rocks in the pretty emerald water, spot fish and minnows, and admire the beaver dams with jagged snow-covered, bell-shaped mountains looming overhead. Crowds flock in the summer months, but perhaps the most glorious time to visit is the fall, when aspen trees tremble and turn golden yellow. Cars are prohibited from driving up to Crater Lake and the base of the Bells, but the Roaring Forks' narrated bus tours allow you to look all you want and learn about the flora, fauna, and landscape along the way.

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