Difficult Campground

Difficult Campground 4 miles east of Aspen, CO does not have cell service, situated as it is where the Roaring Fork River valley narrows down amid towering peaks on either side. But, consequently very scenic, with numerous trails to hike, the river close by to paddle board, and Aspen itself to bike to and back.

Campsite #3, where I stayed this time was not my first choice. I got hung up in the reservation process, though I was ''Johnny on the spot' careful to try to get first line for site 30. I seem to have typed #3 by mistake. And given the cancellation fee to change campsites, I choose to stick with what I got.

Campsite #3 has virtually no useable shade, and was very hot, especially in my tent reaching 95 degrees F by 10 am in the morning. Outside the tent much cooler of course. People with a campsite can use the nicely shaded Day Use area without the $8 fee charged to people who only want to park and hike the surrounding trails from there.

My second morning (of 5), I saw that an 'army' of ants, carrying little white bundles (food or eggs?) with them, had invaded the space outside my tent. I did not photograph or video them, more anxious to get some vinegar in town to spray and shew them away; which worked pretty well. But the next morning, I decided to move my tent a couple of yards away from their path, after all their territory. Easily done, and I never saw them again. Or even a tell-tale ant hill anywhere.

A couple of times, other campers crossed my campsite through the woods from the nearest vault toilet building. The toilet room nearest my campsite was spotless. . And the hosts had the door lock fixed I think the very next day.

Best plus for this campsite? Right at the entrance to the campground, across from the Day Use area, and convenient by car, truck, or RV. That, and the overall serenity of this location in the heart of the Rockies.

twin lakes, maroon bells

The campground was great and the facilities super clean! And, the camp host Tyler was AWESOME!! He was super friendly, helpful, and made us feel very welcome.

Very enjoyable campground. The location is great as it offers easy access to Maroon Bells, Aspen, and any of the other surrounding activities.

The Difficult Trail is a nice convenient walk, although there's not really great river access for fishing, despite how close the campground is to the Roaring Fork. there is one river access spot right after you cross the bridge for the Difficult Trail, but it's a pretty tight spot and the flow is too high for any real fishing.

Volt toilets were about as expected. About average and what we'd expect at other National Forest campgrounds.

One unique feature that we really liked was the fact that they're tends to be trees and brush between the campground sites. Even though the sites are fairly close together, we found we had a lot of visual privacy due to the screening of the Aspen trees and other growth on the sides of each campsite.

We would definitely return again here and enjoyed our stay at Difficult.

This is the best campground in Colorado. The staff does a great job of keeping the vault toilets clean and maintaining the campsites.

This campground is absolutely beautiful. And well taken care of.

Nice spot. Close to the river. Lots of toilets and water spigots. Close proximity to Aspen for groceries, restaurants, etc.

We enjoyed our stay here! The drop toilets were well maintained. It was funny: they didn’t smell in the actual bathroom, but walking up they did. The camp sites were very private, the river running through made for a pleasant experience. The sites were a bit small for our larger group, even though we had 2 sites for 9 people. No service at the sites which was nice. Good size bear boxes. Camp hosts were very nice. Be sure to bring cash if you need to buy wood there! Conveniently located close to Aspen, but there weren’t any hikes we did straight from the campground.

Bigger sites with more flat area to put up tents would’ve made us give it 5 stars for a campground. We would not have been able to fit 10 people per site (as the reservation said)

Always well maintained, our go to campground in the area!

plenty of space, peace and quiet, location. Perfect camping.