Where to camp in the Aspen area

ASPEN ” Visitors interested in pitching a tent or parking their RV within the vicinity of Aspen will find eight U.S. Forest Service campgrounds within the agency’s Aspen Ranger District.

Three are located off Maroon Creek Road, southwest of town, and the rest are located off Highway 82 to the east of town ” the route toward Independence Pass.

On Maroon Creek Road are the Silver Bar Campground with four spaces, Silver Bell Campground with five spaces and Silver Queen campground with six spaces. Sites are $15 per night.

Five campgrounds are located east of town. Closest to Aspen, along Highway 82, is Difficult Campground, with 47 spaces plus a group site. The cost for single spaces is $18 per night.

Also along the highway as it winds up Independence Pass are the Lincoln Gulch Campground, a short distance down Lincoln Creek Road, with 7 spaces, and the Portal Campground, farther up Lincoln Creek road, with 7 spaces.

Right off the highway are the Weller Campground, with 11 spaces, and Lost Man Campground with 10 spaces. The nightly rate is $15 for all of the campgrounds except Difficult.

Reservations are not available for the Lincoln Gulch, Portal, Weller and Lost Man campgrounds ” it’s first-come, first-served.

All of the campgrounds have a five-night limit on stays.

Go to http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/whiteriver/recreation/campgrounds/ for more information on all of the campgrounds in the White River National Forest, plus links to reserve sites.

Scan campgrounds in the Sopris Ranger District for information on Forest Service campsites outside of Carbondale, and at Ruedi Reservoir and elsewhere in the Fryingpan Valley, above Basalt.