Ute Trail is a 5.5 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Aspen, Colorado that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as difficult. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from May until October.
birding
hiking
nature trips
trail running
walking
forest
views
wild flowers
wildlife
rocky
The views during sunset were amazingly breathtaking.
I went and hiked this trail at the beginning of April right after a few days of snowfall. About 80 percent of the trail was covered in snow so often times during the hike, we weren't even on the trail because we couldn't see it. The view at the top was spectacular and definitely worth hiking to. We couldn't find the trail from the Ute rock overlook to the top of Ajax so we opted to run down the opposite side of the mountain in the back country and ended up sliding into a ski run on our butts. Although not recommended, it was an awesome time!
Difficult, beautiful, worth it. Great first hike of our trip. Definitely hop in the swing and enjoy the view when you get to the top of the switchback section.
How can a 5 mile hike be so hard? When you climb straight up the double black diamonds of Aspen. After a 1.5 section of switchbacks, the trail straightens out and that's when it gets hard. Near the top people were literally stopping every 20 feet for a breather.
The reward? A party scene at the summit, and a gondola ride to the base.
Good tough hike but well worth the view about half way up.