The Grottos Loop

Dogs Leashed

Features Cave · Fall Colors · Geological Significance · River/Creek · Waterfall

One of the most popular hiking destinations in the Aspen area, The Grottos is a wonderful playground for families and water lovers as well. This short trail network offers easy hiking for all ages, lots of picturesque waterfalls and cascades, marvelous carved rock formations, deeply fissured ice caves (which may or may not have any ice depending on the season), and all of this within a short drive from the town of Aspen. - Overview by Denis LeBlanc, Outdoor Project

The Grottos day use area, just a stone's throw from Highway 82 on the west side of Independence Pass, is one of the valley's most fascinating geologic zones. This is an area where the crystal clear Roaring Fork River drops steeply through a boulder field and heavily eroded rock, forming green pools among the aspens. There is a network of trails, formal and social, that allows easy exploration of the small area. The official loop trail is about 0.6 miles, but most people will do more than that.

Thousands of years of glacial carving and erosion caused by the cascading water of the Roaring Fork River has sculpted the caves and formations found there today. The Grottos Trail meanders through the metamorphosed hard rock, offering access into one of the wildest places you'll ever explore.