For many outdoor enthusiasts, the San Juan Mountains represent Colorado at its finest. Rugged and remote, the state’s largest unbroken mountain range is a peak-bagger’s paradise, with 14 of the state’s 54 fourteeners, mountains above 14,000 feet. Many require long backpack trips, jarring drives up rough four-wheel-drive roads or frightening climbs with jaw-dropping exposure.

Handies Peak, near Lake City 4.5 hours from Colorado Springs, requires none of the above, making it a perfect place to get acquainted with this legendary mountain range. There are two main routes up the 14,048-foot peak, both walk-ups requiring no technical climbing.

To get there: Head to Canon City on Colorado Highway 115, then take U.S. Highway 50 through Gunnison. Head south on Colorado Highway 149 through Lake City, then turn right on Lake San Cristobal Road. Follow signs for Cinnamon Pass. Passenger cars may want to park at the Grizzly Gulch trailhead, a slightly longer hiking route, or at the turn-off for the road to the American Basin trailhead, which will add another 1.8 miles to your day. Four-wheel-drive vehicles can continue to the trailhead.

Hike: Most people hike the trail from American Basin, so we’ll describe that route first. After driving up the rough road as far as you’re willing to go, continue south into the lovely basin, which may be aglow with mountain wildflowers. Handies looms above on your left. Follow the good trail gently up the grassy basin, and turn left just before reaching a very cold-looking lake. Continue through a talus field, then the tundra, to the summit, where the San Juans sprawl before you in every direction, a majestic tapestry. Return the way you came.

If you have a passenger car, or just want to avoid the crowds on the American Basin route, stop at the Grizzly Gulch trailhead, about a mile below the turn-off for American Basin. This slightly longer trail, 8 miles round-trip, 3,650 feet of elevation gain, is also a well-maintained, easy-to-follow route. This author recommends then descending via the American Basin route, so you don’t have to back-track, and walking or hitching a ride back to your car.

Details: The mountain is in Uncompahgre National Forest. No fees or permits required. Free camping is available at both trailheads.

As with any fourteener, bad weather can move in quickly and furiously, so keep an eye out for thunderstorms. Above treeline is no place to be during one of the San Juans’ ferocious lightning storms. Many people also choose to hike fourteeners Redcloud and Sunshine peaks while in the area, since their trailhead is just across the road from Grizzly Gulch.

Trip Log: American Basin, from the two-wheel-drive pull-off