Driving the Smuggler Mountain Road to Warren Lakes near Aspen
Warren Lakes is a high mountain lake at an elevation of 3.318m (10,885ft) above the sea level, located in Pitkin County, in the U.S. state of Colorado.
Set high in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, within the White River National Forest, the road to the lake is totally unpaved. It’s called Smuggler Mountain Road (FSR #131). It’s a fairly well maintained county 4WD road not heavily used.
Accessibility is largely limited to the summer season. It is not generally snow-free until late June or even July in some years. The road to the lake is very steep, hitting a 21.1% of maximum gradient through some of the ramps. Starting from Aspen, the road is 9.79km (6.08 miles) long. Over this distance the elevation gain is 851 meters and the average gradient is 8.69%.
Pic: Gavon Peck