arapaho national forest
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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 Backpacking: Cascade Creek Trail to Mirror and Crater Lakes
First things first: there are a whole bunch of Crater Lakes in Colorado. This post is about the one on the west side of the Indian Peaks Wilderness near Lake Granby. For info on hiking to the Crater Lake near Aspen, see this post. For info on hiking to the Crater Lakes in the James… 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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Colorado Hikes: Forest Lakes
After somewhat of a lull in hiking in the latter portion of 2023, my 2024 hiking pursuits began just three days into the new year when S invited me on a snowshoeing excursion to Forest Lakes. These lakes had been on my to-do list for a while but never seemed to make it close enough… 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 13ers: Cupid Peak and Grizzly Peak D
My goal for this summer is to summit more mountains. So far, my progress has been subpar. I always go into the summer with so many plans and an endless list of hikes to accomplish, and inevitably time gets away from me and suddenly it’s almost time to go back to work and I’ve crossed… Continue reading
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Colorado Summits: Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain
Let’s begin by answering the obvious question: it’s pronounced mess-tah-HAY. Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain is named for a Cheyenne woman who was also known as Owl Woman. Owl Woman was married to William Bent, a white settler, trader, and co-founder of Bents Old Fort trading post on the plains of Colorado in the 1800s. Their marriage was… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Butler Gulch
Colorado has turned me into a winter person. I swore that would never happen, but it appears I was wrong. As a kid, I never liked winter. It’s cold and dark and lasts way too long. Then I moved out east and my first winter there was marked by 3 giant snowstorms that collectively dropped… Continue reading
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Colorado 13ers: James Peak
About a month after summiting three 13ers in one day, I found myself back in the very same area as I made my way toward the summit of the adjacent 13,294 foot (4052 m) mountain: James Peak. It’s one that I’d wanted to climb for a couple years now, although I don’t know why, out… Continue reading
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Colorado 13ers: Hagar Mountain
I skipped a hike. I don’t know how it happened, but I did. Back in early August 2021, Chelsea and I summitted 13er Hagar Mountain together. When I got home, I recorded it on my hike spreadsheet. I even started writing this post. But somehow, I never actually finished the write up or uploaded it… Continue reading
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Colorado 13ers: Mount Bancroft, Parry Peak, and Mount Eva
Sometimes, a hike ends up being more laid back than you thought it would be and goes more quickly than you expected. And sometimes, a hike is far more intense than you anticipated and it takes 8 hours to hike 7 miles (11.3 km). This hike was one of the latter. Chelsea and I set… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Herman Gulch
I first hiked Herman Gulch a few years back, a challenging but beautiful outing in the midst of peak fall color season. More recently, my fiancé, my mom, and I completed this hike in the summer and instead of yellow leaves we found ourselves surrounded by wildflowers. So I decided now would be a good… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: St. Mary’s Glacier
Most lists of “best hikes near Denver” include St. Mary’s Glacier. And with good reason. For a relatively short drive and 1.8 miles (2.9 km) of hiking, you can see a pretty subalpine lake, bristlecone pines, and stand on a glacier. Well… sort of. As it turns out, St. Mary’s Glacier isn’t actually a glacier.… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Loch Lomond
Are you singing the Loch Lomond song in your head now? Me too. In fact, it was stuck in my head the rest of the day after doing this hike. It’s in my head again now as I’m writing this. But despite the Scottish origin of the song, today’s hike is not located in Scotland.… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Heart Lake
Summer hiking season was abruptly and heartbreakingly interrupted late last year, thanks to four large, rapidly spreading wildfires that prompted many closures and blanketed Colorado with thick smoke. Just as firefighters began to make significant progress, the west coast caught fire and the smoke from those states was blown all the way to Colorado and… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Strawberry Lake
The morning after summiting Mount Ida, we packed up our campsite and headed back home… but not before squeezing in one more hike. The hike to Strawberry Lake is only 3.7 miles (6 km) round-trip and the trailhead is a decent drive, so we figured we’d check it off the list while we were already… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Beartracks Lake
Even as we consistently check hikes off our to-do list, it never seems to get any shorter. And yes, we’re extremely fortunate to have so many options to choose from. I’m definitely not complaining. But it can also sometimes be overwhelming to decide which trail to tackle each weekend. Case in point: this hike. Hiking… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Chicago Lakes
I think most lists of “best hikes near Denver” include Chicago Lakes. It’s not an easy hike – in terms of length or elevation gain – but it’s certainly worth the effort. Which also makes it extremely popular. We arrived at 6:30am on a Saturday morning to find the ample parking lot already approaching full.… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Hell’s Hole
When we told my brother-in-law we were planning to hike to Hell’s Hole the next morning, he immediately asked if this meant we would be spending the day exploring the devil’s butt crack. (Spoiler alert: we would not.) Your guess is as good as mine for where the name Hell’s Hole came from. I tried… Continue reading
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Summiting our Second Colorado 13er: Mount Sniktau
I must admit, within about two minutes of beginning our hike up Mount Sniktau I was regretting our decision. I know summiting 13ers and 14ers requires some substantial climbing, but this hike gave a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘elevation gain.’ The trail basically goes straight up the mountain, gaining 1000 vertical feet (305… Continue reading