Tag: trails

If you like mountain lakes as big and broad and cold as the mountaintops around you, Gem probably isn’t for you. But if you aren’t a lake snob and can find a place in your heart for a tiny but picturesque spot of tranquility, then you need to check out this gem. To get there: From…

Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save 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…

Summer is short in the Never Summer Mountains, an imposing chain of 12,000-foot peaks on the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. The few months between the snow melt-off and the first storm of autumn see a frenzy of life, when the high basins are lush and teeming with life, in a corner of…

The backbone of one of Colorado’s longest and most striking mountain ranges, the 55-mile Rainbow Trail is within a two-hour drive of Colorado Springs and can be hiked, biked, or ridden on horseback.You’ll have the best range – and a healthy technical challenge – on a mountain bike.The Rainbow Trail was built in the 1910s…

Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Sometimes, you have to hike just for the adventure of trying a new, unfamiliar trail. We set out on this trail with two objectives: to find a suitable backcountry campsite, and to explore the area just…

Hanging Lake is one of the state’s most popular trails, largely because it’s easily accessible from Interstate 70. In past summers, more than 100,000 people have hiked it. The reason? At the top is a shimmering blue-green, 1.5-acre lake fed by two waterfalls. The lake, more than a mile up Deadhorse Creek canyon, was formed…

Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Although it’s Colorado’s tallest peak at 14, 433 feet, Mount Elbert is by no means the most difficult to climb. In fact, with its long, broad ridges , it’s one of the easier fourteeners to tackle…

Start at a clearly marked trail that climbs through a dry, ponderosa pine forest. In half a mile, the path crests at a low ridge and comes to a fork at a sign. Go right and begin the quarter-mile descent to the river. For the next three miles, the path parallels the raucous current of…

Sometimes, a trail with a magical name can disappoint. This one delivers what it promises. Although it begins at one of the park’s busiest trail junctions, it takes hikers into hidden reaches of this majestic park. To get there: Rocky Mountain National Park is outside the city of Estes Park. Take I-25 and exit either through…

The Lost Man Trail swings in a 9-mile arc through the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness Area on the west side of Independence Pass. You can hike any length as an out-and-back, perhaps targeting a mountain saddle or alpine lake as your destination, or you can set up a shuttle to complete the horseshoe-shaped trail. It’s true, the…