1970’s

There was a time when the Maroon Bells were one of the most photographed places on earth.  In the middle of the summer, the parking lot up at the lake was always at capacity with more cars waiting at the entrance of the upper lot for the next available space.  There were tri-pods and expensive cameras everywhere.

The lower lot was reserved for hikers, many of which headed up the well-used trail to Crater Lake situated below the “bells” and above the Maroon Bells Lake.  Some of the hikers were taking on more challenging hikes like traversing West Maroon Pass, East Maroon Pass and even climbing the face of Pyramid Peak.  There were also about 100 small camping spots in and around both parking lots and these were almost always in use all summer long.

For the locals we just loved the un-fettered access we enjoyed going up to the “bells” at any hour of the day.  Some might say that it was even the site of many “submarine races” by the high school students.  Another fun activity was to ride our bike down from the upper parking area all the way back to town, approximately 12 miles in all.  Our parents took turns taking us up and dropping us off, most had pick-up trucks or other means of carrying half-dozen bikes at a time.

The trip down was 80 percent speed, 10 percent terror and 10 percent uphill.  The first part of the trip was a gradual downhill on nicely paved roads.  Then there was a section just below the lake where the road turned to a gravel surface for a few miles bordered by Cattle Guards on both ends.  Unfortunately, by the time you hit the first cattle guard and the ensuing gravel surface most of us were already doing 30 or 40 miles per hour.  Panic was our first order of business.  We all knew to expect that section of the road but it always arrived earlier than we expected.

The next couple of miles after the gravel was back to pavement and a gradual downhill, we once again picked up speed.  As we passed the T-Lazy 7 stables, tolerating the fresh odor of horses, our next obstacle was a short distance away.  As the road crossed over the Maroon Creek River it turned transitioned to a fairly steep uphill for the next half mile.  No matter how much speed we had as we crossed the river it was never enough to get very far up the hill before you had to start peddling again.

Exhausted and barely moving we finally crested the hill right next to The Heather Bed Lodge and Highlands Ski Area parking lot.  The remainder of the journey into town was uneventful with the exception of the volume of traffic on the road.  Back then the bike riders knew how to share the road with the cars.  Today bicycles seem to control the roads.  Also today, the access to the Maroon Bells is limited and usually requires a bus ride to the lake.