Silver Bell Campground

Beautiful site in beautiful campground.

Beautiful site in beautiful campground.

Location and access to Marroon Bells is excellent. Campground is small yet adequate. Nice tables and fire rings. Site #1 is steep and an RV/vehicle won’t be able to level. Would be concerned about getting stuck under wet conditions. Staff at guard station was extremely pleasant and helpful. No cell service.

Location and access to Marroon Bells is excellent. Campground is small yet adequate. Nice tables and fire rings. Site #1 is steep and an RV/vehicle won’t be able to level. Would be concerned about getting stuck under wet conditions. Staff at guard station was extremely pleasant and helpful. No cell service.

Camping in the Maroon Bells area is a real treat and privilege. We were happy we were able to get a reservation.

Camping in the Maroon Bells area is a real treat and privilege. We were happy we were able to get a reservation.

It was cool, but a short trip for us. We reserved a single night on Silver Bell campground with the intention of doing FF a few more nights. It was decided for us when interacting with the staff on site. A sense of humor / politeness goes a long way, the staff had no personality, and didn't seem to care to be there at all. The following morning, I pointed out to one of the staff members (when they were making their rounds in the AM) that a group had come and taken a few of the FF spots, and never actually showed up to stay in them. The response was "I dont care, thats not my problem- cant do anything about it". This sealed the deal for us, won't be coming back here. We've been touring Colorado all summer, and will be doing this for many years to come. Its too bad this won't be included in our plans going forward. At least hire people that enjoy doing this. I've met some incredible people along my trip, and the contrast here is evident, the (young) workers here don't seem to be a good fit. This means a lot to us as its nice to have friendly, knowledgable rangers/staff. my two cents! Thank you.

It was cool, but a short trip for us. We reserved a single night on Silver Bell campground with the intention of doing FF a few more nights. It was decided for us when interacting with the staff on site. A sense of humor / politeness goes a long way, the staff had no personality, and didn't seem to care to be there at all. The following morning, I pointed out to one of the staff members (when they were making their rounds in the AM) that a group had come and taken a few of the FF spots, and never actually showed up to stay in them. The response was "I dont care, thats not my problem- cant do anything about it". This sealed the deal for us, won't be coming back here. We've been touring Colorado all summer, and will be doing this for many years to come. Its too bad this won't be included in our plans going forward. At least hire people that enjoy doing this. I've met some incredible people along my trip, and the contrast here is evident, the (young) workers here don't seem to be a good fit. This means a lot to us as its nice to have friendly, knowledgable rangers/staff. my two cents! Thank you.

We stayed at site #6 late June. Excellent site for a tent (I wouldn't recommend more than one tent for this site). Plenty of shade and reasonable privacy. It was near the river so we could hear it flowing all night which was nice. Restrooms were close by. No firewood available at ranger station or campground - we got ours from the City Market in Aspen. No water spigots either, also got water from City Market. Silver Bell was a nice, small campground. Full on weekend but there was some open campsites mid-week. Based on the map, I was concerned about how close it is to the road. This was a non-issue...the road is elevated above the campground so most noise is not bothersome. Also, the traffic is next to nothing in the evenings and during the day they have the reservation system so it is limited to the buses. A nice advantage of having a campground reservation is that your vehicle is exempt from the bus restrictions and you can park right at the Maroon trailhead - just make sure you check in at the Ranger station to get your vehicle tag (Rangers were excellent by the way). Another reviewer recommended the ARC (Aspen Rec Center) as it is a 10 minute drive down the road - we did that and would recommend it...not cheap but day pass gets you everything including solid workout equipment, nice pool, and showers. I imagine this would be especially appealing if you are camping with kids as the pool is kid friendly. Downtown Aspen is only about 15 mins away so it was nice to go into town for dinner one night. No trails from the campground, I wouldn't plan on hiking from your campsite unless you want to walk the road for a while. Overall, highly recommended campsite and well worth the 6-month prior reservation we made.

We stayed at site #6 late June. Excellent site for a tent (I wouldn't recommend more than one tent for this site). Plenty of shade and reasonable privacy. It was near the river so we could hear it flowing all night which was nice. Restrooms were close by. No firewood available at ranger station or campground - we got ours from the City Market in Aspen. No water spigots either, also got water from City Market. Silver Bell was a nice, small campground. Full on weekend but there was some open campsites mid-week. Based on the map, I was concerned about how close it is to the road. This was a non-issue...the road is elevated above the campground so most noise is not bothersome. Also, the traffic is next to nothing in the evenings and during the day they have the reservation system so it is limited to the buses. A nice advantage of having a campground reservation is that your vehicle is exempt from the bus restrictions and you can park right at the Maroon trailhead - just make sure you check in at the Ranger station to get your vehicle tag (Rangers were excellent by the way). Another reviewer recommended the ARC (Aspen Rec Center) as it is a 10 minute drive down the road - we did that and would recommend it...not cheap but day pass gets you everything including solid workout equipment, nice pool, and showers. I imagine this would be especially appealing if you are camping with kids as the pool is kid friendly. Downtown Aspen is only about 15 mins away so it was nice to go into town for dinner one night. No trails from the campground, I wouldn't plan on hiking from your campsite unless you want to walk the road for a while. Overall, highly recommended campsite and well worth the 6-month prior reservation we made.