Hiking Colorado: Hell Roaring Trail

Our first side-trip on our camping weekend was down to Aspen/Snowmass to hike to Williams Lake (or that's at least what was planned). The trailhead for the Hell Roaring Trail is a true 4WD trail so be prepared if it's something you'd like to try. As we drove up the road and approached the trailhead for Capitol Peak, the road on to the Hell Roaring trailhead looked a little intense so we decided to park and hike the last mile (but don't be fooled, there was probably a few hundred feet of rough terrain and then the road smoothed out quite a bit).

We hiked the mile and easily found the trailhead for the Hell Roaring trail. It is a beautiful trail with even more beautiful views! I wish I could tell you if Williams Lake was beautiful but we never quite made it. There is a turnoff on the trail to Williams Lake but we completely missed it (and apparently it's a quite common theme) so if you start complaining about climbing a lot of elevation then my friend you have passed the junction! We kept hiking and while we stopped for a snack break, a couple passed us that said we were hiking up toward the Hell Roaring Divide. And boy did we feel like it. With Carson on Reid's back and Cooper on mine, we truly got a workout that day. And wouldn't ya know on the hike out we noticed the sign for the junction to the lake! Sigh...at least it made for a story and a good workout!

After the hike we headed in to Aspen to let our kids play at a local park, but not before grabbing a bite to eat at 520 Grill (YUM!)