The Maroon Bells near Aspen in Colorado mirror in Maroon Lake at sunrise. The deep red sunlit peaks of the 4,315 m (14,157 feet) and 4,270 m (14,009 feet) high Maroon Bells are only 500 m (1,640 feet) apart.
They consist of reddish mud and sandstones that already formed a high mountain range more than 300 million years ago; the Uncompahgre Mountains. “Uncompahgre” is a Ute Indian word meaning “rocks that color water red” and thus describes these mountains quite literally.