A Beautiful Walk On Rio Grande Trail, CO
All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.
Marie Curie
Things To Know
Where: Herron Park, Aspen, CO
Length: 4.7 mi
Elevation Gain: 193 ft
Route Type: Out & Back
Activities: Walking, Biking, Running
Difficulty: Moderate
Best Time: March to October
Entry Fee: None
Getting There:
Car: Google map “Herron Park” or “Rio Grande Trail”. Limited Parking is on the roadside and 1 designated accessible paved parking lot off Neale Avenue at the southeast end of the trail.
Rio Grande Trail is a beautiful multi-use 42 miles long trail in Aspen, CO. This is a very popular area for cross-country skiing, hiking, biking and horseback riding.
Song in My Heart
On my first day at Aspen, I wanted to just relax in the evening and planned to wake up late next morning. The hotel I stayed at – “Limelight Hotel Snowmass” was pretty luxurious and I felt it would be crime not to enjoy the hotel too. 🙂 So the following morning after breakfast, I decided to go to a shaded park – Rio Grande Park, on the spur of the moment.
Reaching Herron Park…
It was 9:20am by the time I parked my car near the park and it was pretty late to start a walk as it was quite sunny that day. I am very bad at finding places and directions; so after parking the car, I started looking for the park entrance and did go on a trail but realized after 10 mins or so that I am not on the right trail ;P So, I started walking around on the street to see if I can find the real park I intend to go to. Finally I saw the big entrance for the Rio Grande Park and it was certainly Eureka moment for me to have succeeded in finding it. :lol
The Walk…
I entered the Park and was greeted with a bouquet of beauty. My whole face lit up as I was happy to have made the decision. I started walking on a path and kept walking and walking….not wanting to stop. It was ~42 miles multi-use trail and I did about 7 miles one way before deciding to return. After about 10 mins of walking on the trail, I had a river to give me company. The first 4 miles were in shaded area mostly and had nice breeze but later part of the trail was open and I did get sun-burnt that day. However I didn’t regret even a single bit and loved every moment of it.
Discovering John Denver Sanctuary…
As I was walking on the trail, sometimes I would end up at dead-ends and then I would find another trail to get into. As I was doing this, I stumbled upon John Denver Sanctuary. It is a very amazing tribute to John Denver. There was a trail too inside but not that long and I did go there but came back after sometime….
The Return And Delicious Food…
Even though I had done 10 miles by this time, I didn’t want it to end. The sun was not forgiving at all and I knew that I have to return as I was hungry cat too. I washed my face at the restroom while returning. I stumbled upon a park inside the park and spent 10-20 mins resting before continuing heading back. The return was as exhilarating and once I came back to my car, I looked for a place to eat with Vegetarian Noodle Soup (Vietnamese Pho) as it is my favorite food. I found the place about 5-10 mins away from the Park and yummy….with iced tea to along with it.
Beautifully articulated 😍😍😍
Fun to say that I have been to Aspen and explored through the John Denver park. The whole area is beautiful.
Great article! Well done 🙂
Well described and good to see u that ur are nature loving.
It sounds like you had quite an adventure on this walk! Lovely photos of a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing.
Very beautiful written and the pictures assure that the beauty I imagined while reading is absolutely gorgeous ♥️
This looks like such a fun trail and that food looks delicious.
I’m so glad you are documenting your memories! Very impressed by the detailed descriptions you provide. I’m amazed by your power of rentention!! We went to Aspen over several summers! We are huge John Denver fans so that was a big reason to visit the Sanctuary. But we also went to some book launches by famous authors at the Aspen Institute (very fancy and formal) and to the Aspen Center for Physics for Douglas’ work. We enjoyed the guided tours of the nature preserve and bird sanctuary at Aspen Center for Environmental Studies. We loved the many vegan restaurants by the ski lifts. Our favorite was St. Mortiz Hotel, we loved swimming in their temperature-regulated pool after a day of exploration. Off-season prices are more affordable for sure and we’d would love to visit the Maroon Falls again !
PS-correction * Maroon Bells 🙂
This looks like such a beautiful walk😍
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