Colorado Summits
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Colorado Summits: the Boulder Peaks
I have a feeling 2026 is going to be a good year for adventures. How could it not be, when my first hike of the year took place on January 2nd, beneath a beautiful sunrise sky (photo above, and more to come), and involved the long-overdue completion of one of my many hiking-related lists? As… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Deer Creek Canyon Park
Located on the southwest edge of the Denver Metro area, Deer Creek Canyon Park is open to hikers, bikers, and equestrians. The park isn’t huge, but there are 14 miles (22.5 km) of trails, including routes to the park’s two highest points: Plymouth Mountain and Bill Couch Mountain. There’s also a lengthy trail connecting this… Continue reading
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Colorado 14ers #17-18: Mount Belford and Mount Oxford
Summer really got away from me this year. As I sit down to start writing this post, it’s mid-August and it was only 3 days ago that I finally summited my first 14ers of the summer. Part of the explanation is that I was originally supposed to climb these peaks in July, but an unexpected… Continue reading
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Colorado Summits: Vasquez Peak
When I agreed to a Sunday hike up a mountain with Chelsea, I knew it was going to be a busy and tiring weekend. My husband and I already had plans for a hike on Friday, but I’d have Saturday to rest my legs, so I wasn’t too worried. Except, my husband and I ended… Continue reading
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Colorado Bucket List: Pikes Peak Cog Railway
For people who live in Colorado, particularly those who hike regularly, I’m not necessarily sure this is a bucket list item. It wasn’t ever on ours. But for visitors, or for those who want to get up into the mountains but don’t have the means to do so via other methods, perhaps the Pikes Peak… Continue reading
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Colorado 14ers #15-16: Grays and Torreys Peaks
When we moved to Colorado, I made a rule that I was never waking up earlier than 4:00am to go hiking. Unfortunately, these two 14ers are so popular that if I was ever going to climb them, I might be forced to break that rule. It was one of those moments where I was forced… Continue reading
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A long weekend in Palisade, Colorado
This year, we didn’t have the vacation days to swing a two-week roadtrip, so instead we settled for a much more low key – but still fun – belated anniversary three-day weekend in Palisade, Colorado. Palisade is a small town on Colorado’s Western Slope, best known for its wineries and peach orchards. It’s a town… Continue reading
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Colorado Summits: Saint Vrain Mountain
My birthday is in the summer and, in most cases, you could pretty confidently plan an outdoor celebration and assume the weather will cooperate. In the Rocky Mountains, as it turns out, it’s not such a guarantee. In fact, it snowed on my 8th birthday and my planned outdoor party had to be moved indoors;… Continue reading
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Colorado 14ers #14: Mount Sherman via Fourmile Creek Trail
Despite what some people might say, there are no easy 14ers. Unless you spend a substantial portion of your life at very high elevation, nothing over 14,000 feet (4267 m) is ever going to be easy. But there are easier 14ers and, by most accounts, Mount Sherman is one of them. If you can make… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Devil’s Head Lookout
In 1907, the US Forest Service – which was a brand new agency at the time – planned to build seven lookouts along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains from Wyoming to New Mexico. Only four of these lookouts were ever actually built; one on Medicine Bow Peak in Wyoming, and three in Colorado… Continue reading
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Colorado Summits: Chief Mountain
This happens to everyone, right: you do something wrong and you get corrected and then you can never remember which version is wrong and which one is correct? As a kid I briefly attended a school named for a Native American chief and, in one of the more embarrassing moments of my time there, I… Continue reading
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Colorado 14ers #10-13: Decalibron
If a two-for-one is called a twofer, does that make a four-for-one a fourfer? If so, this was a fourfer. Specifically, four 14er summits for the effort of one. Or maybe slightly more than one. Either way, the Decalibron trail is probably the most bang for your buck of all the Colorado 14ers. Hiking Decalibron… Continue reading
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Colorado 14ers #9: Culebra Peak
Some people who set out to climb the Colorado 14ers do it ABC: all but Culebra. Why, you ask? Because the peak is on private land and the owner charges a fee to access it. So when my friend invited me to climb Culebra with her (and another friend, who unfortunately had to cancel) this… Continue reading
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On Top of Colorado (and Colorado 14ers #8): Mount Elbert via Black Cloud Trail
In September, two of my travel goals collided when I summited my eighth Colorado 14er… which also happens to be the highest point in Colorado! A few days later, as I sit down to begin writing this post, I’m conflicted about whether to title it ‘Colorado 14ers’ to match my other 14ers posts or ‘On… Continue reading
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Colorado 14ers #6 and #7: Mount Eolus and North Eolus
It was 4:15pm when my friend K and I trudged back into our campsite after summiting Sunlight and Windom Peaks. We’d been gone for 10 hours, during which time we’d hiked just 6.6 miles (10.6 km) but gained – and then lost – 3750 feet (1145 m) of elevation. To say we were exhausted was… Continue reading
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Colorado 14ers #4 and #5: Sunlight Peak and Windom Peak
I’ll begin by saying this: there are roughly fifty 14ers in Colorado that are easier to summit than Sunlight Peak. Choosing it as my fourth 14er was maybe a little ambitious. I did it. But it was substantially harder than anything I’ve hiked or summited before. I definitely don’t recommend these peaks for anyone who… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: CCY Route
The CCY Route – named for the three sequential summits of Mount Chapin, Mount Chiquita, and Ypsilon Mountain – is a pretty but challenging hike in the lesser-traveled Mummy Range of Rocky. Completing this hike means you’ll bag three summits in one day. However, to do so you have to climb up and over and… Continue reading
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Colorado 14ers #3: Mount Blue Sky
I look up at Mount Blue Sky every single day. It’s the most prominent mountain on the horizon from where we live in the Denver area. Continue reading
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Colorado 13ers: Mount Guyot
August was rapidly approaching and, with it, a fairly intense backpacking trip at high elevation. Hence the two posts in a row about summiting mountains… and the two others that will be coming soon. This was my attempt to regain all the acclimation I lost when I had Covid and whip myself into shape for… Continue reading
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Colorado 13ers: South Arapaho Peak
Most people who visit Colorado in search of mountains go to Rocky Mountain National Park. Don’t get me wrong; Rocky is incredible and well worth the trip. But there are so many other equally stunning areas of the state. Exhibit A: the Indian Peaks Wilderness just south of Rocky. Over the last four years, I’ve… Continue reading
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