White River National Forest Silver Bell Campground

Silver Bell campground has stunning views and although the campsites are kind of small without an abundance of privacy, the view and the sound of the river really makes up for it. I’ve camped here twice, once in site 9 and once in site 10 and I’ve camped here in June and in September. I think the best campsites here are the walk-in tent sites and specifically sites 9, 10 and 11. The scenery is magnificent and it gets even better if you drive up the road and go for a hike at the lake. Reservations are not accepted and this is a major tourist destination so what I do when I want to camp here is I make reservations for a nearby campground(Difficult campground) and I stay there until a campsite becomes available at Silver Bell and then I let the host at Difficult know they can release my site because I’m moving to Silver Bell. Bear bins are provided in each campsite. If you come here in the fall, temperatures at night can be cold. A nice treat about camping near Aspen is getting take-out from one of the great restaurants in town.

I camped at site 1 with my 3 kids and a 8 person tent. We had plenty of room. The camp pads on most, if not all, campsites are separate from the fire ring and picnic tables, optimizing space. There were plenty of places for the kids to explore, rock climb and pretend, especially between checkout and checkin time when some of the camp pads are empty. 

I really liked site 1. We were far enough from 2 and 3 that we could see them, but we couldn't very well hear conversation - thanks to the sounds of the river. Side note: the bank to the river behind our site was too steep for us to explore it. Sites 3 and 4 have direct access to the river. 

One issue is that there are lots of bees and bugs (non-aggressive). They were everywhere, in the toilets, all over our water and hovering all over the food (never landed on the food though. I got stung by something outside of the tent, but only with contact. It was a little annoying, but that won't stop us from going back.

Another big issue for us was the lack of water spigots. These kids were filthy! All we had was have sanitizer for after bathrooms, etc. Rumer has it that Silver Queen Campground slightly further up the road has water. I checked, and there is no water there. When I asked a ranger, she said it was "at the top." I drove up and never located it. Maroon Bells is about 20 minutes up. I didn't want to drive that far. Full up before you get there and/or filter water in the river behind sites 3 and 4, or ask where "at the top is. Don't forget to have a gallon water or so to extinguish fires. 

The final issue was that there was a big disconnect in info between the Welcome Center, the campsites and Maroon Bells. I was told that I had to pay to visit the Bells. I paid $20 for 2 days of visits. In the end, you do now have to pay to visit, because the campers have access. Do buy bus passes in advance online at Aspen chamber. Supposedly, you can't buy passes on site? Oh, and the website says check out is at 2. Actual check out is at noon. 

Overall, we figured everything out and will be back ready to enjoy another stay. It's beautiful and the sounds of the river and the surrounding greenery and Aspen trees are breathtaking.