When this trail was first founded in 1967 it was the first of its kind in the country – a chance for blind people to experience the forest, smells, sounds, the feel of the trees, all being educated by the series of informative signs in braille. The trail passes through beautiful spruce-fir and mixed coniferous forests, and can be a good place to see (and hear!) species such as Gray Jay, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Mountain Chickadee, Brown Creeper, and others.
Roaring Fork
Colorado’s Scenic Headquarters
The Roaring Fork River crashes down out of the West Elk Mountains towards the Colorado River, carving out a beautiful mountain valley as it goes. In this drainage are some of Colorado’s most reknown sights, including the famous Maroon Bells, some of the most photographed mountains in the world, as well as the resort town of Aspen. Wildlife watching opportunities abound. Along this trail you can traverse tundra in search of pipits, ptarmigans, and Prairie Falcons. You can hear Black-throated Gray Warblers buzz in the junipers outside Carbondale, or a Pine Grosbeak warbling from the top of a spruce in the Frying Pan Wilderness. This is steep country that has narrow roads, sharp curves, and steep grades with a high rate of return for any visitor willing to invest some time.
Lincoln Creek
This side creek just above the narrows on CO 82 is unbelievably scenic, with beautiful smooth granite boulders carved into bizarre shapes by the rushing creek, surrounded by gorgeous spruce-fir forest. The road starts out as an easily traveled one, but soon after the Lincoln Creek Campground it becomes significantly rougher. With care, higher clearance cars should be able to travel many miles up the road through spruce-fir forest, willow carrs, and montane meadows. Golden-crowned Kinglet seems particularly common here, and Fox Sparrow is usually easily found in the willows. American Dippers haunt the creek, and a variety of other creatures can be seen on a morning’s visit, including yellow-bellied marmots, pine squirrels, and chipmunks.
Weller Lake
If you’re looking for an easy hike in the mountains near Aspen, then this is a good bet for you. It starts out in aspen forest and montane shrubland (look for Orange-crowned Warbler, Western Tanager, Red-naped Sapsucker) as well as willows (look for Fox and Lincoln’s Sparrows) before heading into nice spruce-fir woodland. Here watch for finches, including Red Crossbill, and Williamson’s Sapsucker. If you take the trail up high enough you may find higher-elevation species like American Three-toed Woodpecker and Gray Jay.
Difficult Campground
Not far to the east of Aspen, the Difficult Campground and nearby trails are a good place to get into the forest without driving too far. Along the access road to the campground you pass through excellent willow-riparian habitat, with birds such as Fox Sparrow, Violet-green Swallow, MacGillivray’s Warbler, and others. Some mixed coniferous woodland is good for birds like Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Red Crossbill, and, if you’re lucky, Dusky Grouse.
Aspen
Aspen is, perhaps, Colorado’s most famous resort town. And it shows – just about every facility you could desire is here, and it makes a good base for exploring the Roaring Fork Valley. Aspen has a lot of trees planted around town, which makes it a birdy place (look especially for finches including Cassin’s), but in general the birding is better outside of town. The one exception is in the winter, when feeders around town could have various species of finches, and fruiting Crabapple and Mountain Ash trees might have waxwings, of either species.
Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES)
ACES, a 22-acre wildlife preserve set aside to protect Hallam Lake, is an excellent birding spot right in the heart of Aspen. It provides good birding any time of year, especially during spring and fall migration. Look especially on the small lake for waterbirds and wading birds, both quite scarce in the Roaring Fork valley. A number of boardwalks throughout the preserve take you through a good variety of habitat, including willows, riparian, and mixed conifers. Species like MacGillivray’s and Orange-crowned Warblers, Red Crossbill, Brown Creeper, Red-naped Sapsucker, American Dipper, and others can be seen here. Both bear and beaver can be seen on the property, with luck.
ACES is also establishing a refugium for the native Colorado River cutthroat trout, which can be seen in Hallam Lake as well as in the ACES indoor trout stream facility.
Castle Creek
Castle Creek will give you nearly everything you would find at Maroon Lake, minus the heavy traffic. While the views may not be as world famous, they certainly aren’t too shabby, and bird-wise you’ll find many of the same species. Look for MacGillivray’s Warbler, Lincoln’s and Fox Sparrows, American Dipper, Steller’s and Gray Jays, and various finch species.
Maroon Lake
It is said that no place in Colorado is more beautiful, or more photographed, than the Maroon Bells from Maroon Lake. The views from here are world-class, and the whole area is also quite birdy, from the road in to the trail around the lake at the end. Abundant traffic along the road during periods when it is open to personal vehicles makes birding the mornings and evenings along the road itself a bit of a pain. Better would be to drive to the end of the road, and walk the trails; watch for American Dipper, Pine Grosbeak, Red Crossbill, Gray and Steller’s Jay, and MacGillivray’s Warbler, among others. Black Swifts nest way up in the mountains above the lake, but can sometimes be seen high in the sky foraging. You won’t be able to miss the chipmunks and golden-mantled ground squirrels.
Arbaney Kittle & Sloane Peak Trail
One of the few locations near Aspen with pinyon-juniper woodland, this is a good place to look for the various ‘PJ’ species as well as go for a nice walk. Look for species such as Pinyon Jay, Juniper Titmouse, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Gray Flycatcher. Some Douglas-fir penetrates into the pinyon-juniper, bringing in birds like Hermit Thrush, Hammond’s Flycatcher, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
Frying Pan River Valley
It’s hard to pin one of Colorado’s many mountain river valleys as the most scenic, but the Frying Pan is surely among the top contenders. Perhaps most famous as a fishing destination, it is also a birdy stretch of habitat. Check the blue spruce/Douglas-fir forest from some of the many pullouts and you could find things like Cordilleran Flycatcher, Common Merganser, American Dipper, Western Tanager, and a host of other birds, as well as squirrels and mule deer.
Spring Park Reservoir
Easily the best waterbirding site on this trail, this large but shallow irrigation reservoir is thawed for most of the year, and often chock-full of ducks of all varieties, especially in the spring and fall. Perhaps the biggest draw is the large staging of Barrow’s Goldeneye that happens every spring, peaking in March and early April, at times reaching over 100 birds! In addition, nearly every species of regular dabbler and diver can also be found, as well as shorebirds if the water is low, the occasional grebe or loon, and maybe a tern or gull. The montane shrubland that surrounds the reservoir often has Green-tailed and Spotted Towhees, Western Scrub-Jay, and swallows. All the land here is private, so please look at the reservoir from the road.
Blue Lake (El Jebel)
This residential subdivision has a small recreational spring-fed pond of about one acre that remains open almost all winter. In addition to making this a magnet for waterfowl when all the other ponds and lakes in the area have frozen, it also makes it one of the best places in the state to find Barrow’s Goldeneye all winter long.
Thompson Creek Road
This road contains some of the only pinyon-juniper forest on this trail, and perhaps the best example of it close to Aspen. Just about every ‘PJ’ specialty can be found along here, including Pinyon Jay, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Bushtit, Juniper Titmouse, and (at night) Common Poorwill. Portions of the road pass through Douglas-fir habitat, where a slightly higher-elevation mix of birds including Western Tanager, Hermit Thrush, and Hammond’s Flycatcher can be seen.
Crystal River Valley
Yet another scenic mountain valley, the Crystal River parallels CO 133 as it ascends to McClure Pass. Most of the land on the lower stretches is private, but there are numerous pullouts and some river access points that can be good birding. Along the lower parts watch for Lewis’s Woodpeckers, and higher up Townsend’s Solitaire, MacGillivray’s and Wilson’s Warblers, Fox and Lincoln’s Sparrows, and American Dipper.
McClure Pass
Though low by mountain pass standards, McClure Pass is still an excellent birding location filled with beautiful aspen and mixed conifer forest. Perhaps the biggest draw is the chance at Purple Martin, which nests in low densities in the area, but birds like Red-naped Sapsucker, Green-tailed Towhee, Dusky Flycatcher, Western Tanager, and Swainson’s Thrush, among many others, can be seen. If you’re looking for a walk, the extreme 4×4 Huntsman Ridge Road ascends through lots of beautiful habitat. During the colder months watch for finches along the road.