Maroon Bells Reservations

[DiamondCutter]

Thanks for that info twolunches. I'll try that method when I try to reserve an August date when they open up this weekend (parking is already full on the aspen chamber site).

If anyone has a cancellation or an open spot for 2people/1tent to join on their permit for either capitol or crater lakes areas on or around July 11-13, please shoot me a message. I made a separate post but figured I'd mention here as well..

I'm also open to letting people tag along on my permits if/when I get them secured, I'll post again as I get dates locked in...

[two lunches]

on a related note, i just released my overnight permit for Snowmass Lake on June 24th.

it looks like there is now one slot left for the 24th & 25th, so if you were thinking about packing in to do Snowmass next Sunday- here's your sign.

[rmcpherson]

If anyone has a parking reservation for Friday, August 30th at Maroon Lake that they are canceling, I’d love to know so I can rebook it. I have a camping reservation for the previous night at Crater Lake but no parking permits of any kind are available.

I’d like to do the traverse that day if a day or 24 hour reservation opens up. Does anyone know what ticket costs are like there if you go past the parking permit deadline?

[daway8]

It doesn't seem to have become general knowledge yet that they release 10 parking spaces 3 days ahead of time.

For instance, I needed a midnight to midnight pass for today (Saturday) to go climb Pyramid but everyone knows those are passes have been long gone for the whole summer, right? Not exactly - I just logged in on Wednesday morning and got a Saturday midnight to midnight pass easily.

Screenshot_20240615-200604.png

[rmcpherson]

Thanks for highlighting this, I did not know. That should solve my parking issue perfectly. Reminder set up.

[JROSKA]

As a potential 14er finisher who is 8 short as of now, with 5 firmly entrenched in the reservation system, it occurred to me that today I spent more time on recreation.gov for future reservations than checking conditions or weather that can help me on more current hikes. For better or worse, I’m ready for this 14er chase to end.

[rmcpherson]

As someone with 8 14ers left as well that I hope to finish this summer, mostly in the Elks, I know exactly what you mean. Spent two hours yesterday feverishly planning and booking dates to hopefully wrap them up this season. Then, on to the Centennials I suppose.

[Mtnman200]

As someone with 8 14ers left as well that I hope to finish this summer, mostly in the Elks, I know exactly what you mean. Spent two hours yesterday feverishly planning and booking dates to hopefully wrap them up this season. Then, on to the Centennials I suppose.

Consider getting Thunder Pyramid and its neighbors while you’re in the vicinity. One trip is more efficient than two.

[daway8]

Consider getting Thunder Pyramid and its neighbors while you’re in the vicinity. One trip is more efficient than two.

For a while I started adopting the same mindset but I realized one day that I happened to be a good ways along towards doing a second lap of the 14ers and so started intentionally revisiting peaks for lap 2,

I've discovered that it's actually kinda neat revisiting familiar places, especially when doing it in different seasons and/or different routes. I've been to the Maroon Lake area multiple times, and given yesterday's incomplete lap 2 for Pyramid, looks like I'll be going back again but I actually look forward to that - this weekend was radically different than when I first did Pyramid in August years ago.

So efficiency is nice but familiarity can be neat too - and since reservations can be made 3 days prior, it's not the same nuisance as before I realized that.

[Colorado-Hawaii]

Last year my wife dropped me off at the TH at 4:30am for Maroon Lake and we and a bunch of photographers just drove around the yellow cones by the entry guard shack.........no problem, everyone was doing it. Not sure if it has changed.

I'm planning to attempt the Bells on July 13th or 14th this year with my son. I'm not sure what route to take with the strong possibility of snow all around................do you think the top half that gets exposed to the east sun will be dry ?

[14ercooper]

Officially, they say on their site that private vehicles can drop off visitors between 6am and 8am (and that the person then needs to find their own way back down the road, such as a one-way shuttle). That being said, as of last time I called and asked them questions, they said that generally before 8am private drop-offs are allowed (so nothing commercial/paid), so long as the vehicle never actually tries to park anywhere past the guard station. When the guard station is unmanned overnight, it's a bit of an honor system to not enter when the regulations say you can't, and I have seen them ticket cars who entered without a reservation and parked in various lots past the guard station before.

[Ryan987]

Cancelled my June 23rd midnight to midnight reservation in case if anyone is thinking about getting after it