Silver Queen Campground

Wow! Ok, if you haven't been to see Maroon Bells, you are missing out and it needs to be on your bucket list. If you're camping, you can't camp any closer to the Maroon Bells than this campground unless you're backpacking. This place was amazing, peaceful, picturesque and perfectly located.

There's 3 campgrounds as you approach the Bells, Silver Bar, Silver Bell, and Silver Queen. Each campground is very small with only about 7 sites per campground. Pulling a 30' TT, we were very limited in which sites would accommodate us as most of the sites are better designed for tents or small popups. We got lucky in that site 4 was the site that we ended up with. It was extremely tight to get the camper to fit, but we squeezed it in and made the best of it.

Our site was beautiful. We had about 1/2 acre all to ourselves nestled in an aspen grove with boulders for the kids to climb, flowers for the deer to eat and views of the Maroon Bells through the trees. All of this with the sound of the river about 20 yards away. The campground is right next to the road which concerned me (about 40 yards away) but I was amazed at how little disruption was made by vehicles passing by.

Each site has a pull-in area and a nice tent pad. There is also the standard picnic table and fire ring. At each of the three campgrounds there is also a 2 stall vault toilet that was clean and well maintained.

Sites 1 and 2 both had some RVs parked on them so these would probably be able to accommodate most TTs and RVs. Site 3 is pretty much a tent only site as the parking pad is a "pull-thru" but it's extremely small and heavily slanted downhill. Site 4 we maxed out with our 30' TT. Sites 5&6 both had tents on them but seemed fairly spacious.

One negative note on this site was that it has a water spigot but it was broken while we were there. I talked to a ranger and they were aware of the problem...they just didn't sound like they would be able to fix it for some time. They suggested we head down to another campground that had a water tank. I did this one night but it took about 20 minutes to fill up a few water jugs.

All-in-all, this is one of the prettiest campgrounds you can stay at, especially if you toss in the views of Maroon Bells when the trees don't have leaves yet. It offered a serenity that was refreshing. Bring your own wood as there is little available lying around unless you want to hike a ways to get it. The trail to Crater Lake was beautiful from the Bells, even in the snow! Bring a good GPS though as the trail is not marked the best. No cell service...at all.

We stayed here for the maximum 5 days in September 2017.

You'll want to stay here in the fall, as it is simply magical with the aspen trees turning. Easy access to hiking trails and the nearby town of Aspen has absolutely magnificent restaurants.

Pros:
- You're staying among the Aspen trees, just down the road from the Maroon Bells.
- Closeby to the town of Aspen, with amazing restaurants.
- Given the extreme costs of real estate in Aspen, you're getting a multi-million dollar view for a mere $15/night.

Cons:
- No dump stations anywhere close by.
- 5 night maximum stay per campground, 14 night maximum stay in the national forest.
- Dining in Aspen can get spendy.
- Absolutely no cell service, even with a high-end antenna - Zip, Zero, Nada. Our neighbor attempted to put a Wilson 4G-OTR antenna on a 30ft mast to get signal but did not meet with success.
- Some spots can be a bit tight: 1 is by the road and is very slanted but roomy, 2 is not too hard to level but is tight and there is a large rock on one site, 3 is right on the side of the road, 4 backs onto some Aspens but is right next to the restrooms, 5 is roomy but steepish, 6 is more open but is first-come-first-serve. The loop is also a bit tight.

Camped September 28-30th, 2020. The campground is the closest to Maroon Lake out of the three and only has 6 sites. The Aspen Chamber told me when I emailed them I needed to make a reservation to visit maroon lake but I found out this is false and if you’re camping in the campgrounds you can drive up anytime during your stay with your campground hang tag so don’t make reservations with the Chamber.

We had a bear right next to our RV sniffing around one morning until my dogs barking scared it away so follow the bear safety rules. There are also moose in the area and we saw one from the road down in the creek.

Campsite 4 is right next to the pit toilets. It was cold during our stay, 30 degrees at night, but I could see it being smelly being in Site 4 if it’s much warmer. Site 4 barely fit our 25 foot motorhome and 2 door Jeep.

There is traffic noise during the day since the campgrounds are all right off the main road but once the shuttle service stops it isn’t bad.

While driving towards Utah, we chose a stop 🛑 to take advantage of the beauty of Maroon-BellS located just 10 miles west of Aspen or 16 from Snowmass up Maroon Creek Road into a glacial valley. The 14,000-foot peaks (fourteeners) called Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, truly epitomize the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Silver Queen Campground has five campsites available for advanced reservation. We took a chance and received the last fist come first serve site for the night. Great 👍 deal for $15 a night, this campground is able to accommodate tents, trailers, and RVs. Reservations are highly recommended. Sites are equipped with picnic tables, vault toilets, food storage lockers (bear boxes), campfire rings and drinking water. Electrical hook-ups are not available; however, water is available at common locations. Be bear aware as we did have an encounter with a bear 🐻 that was a little close for comfort. Thank goodness a nearby camper warned us a bear was coming our way. The bear was attracted to Robins cooking 🥘 and wanted to join us for dinner. Luckily I had the car keys 🔑 and hit the 🆘 button. This was enough to scare the bear away. Always remain vigilant when camping as we are the visitors.
We have just finished over 12,000 miles camping across the USA. The Campendium App was a necessity in our journey across the country. We want to repay the favor and leave reviews which we hope aid in your choices of campsites. Full review and recommendations at http://travelswithgg.com/silver-queen-campground-maroon-bells-🔔/

We got lucky and just showed upped on a Monday and they had one spot left. Usually you need to make reservations and can be months out. Site 6 was great we fit our van in no problem relatively flat and had a significant amount of privacy right by the creek. Took dogs on a walk on Maroon Creek trail just a ¼ of a mile up the road and then road our bikes 3.5 miles up to Maroon Lake to see the iconic Maroon Bells. Pit toilets were super clean, all sites have nice bear boxes for food, picnic tables, fire pit and tent pad. Water wasn’t working when we were there.