CO backpacking
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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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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Upper Glacier Gorge Lakes
You know how sometimes you’ve been wanting to do something for so long and you’ve built it up in your head, and then you finally get to do it and it’s not as amazing as you were hoping, and you end up being really disappointed? This was not that. It was, however, something I’d been… 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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Colorado Bucket List: Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Scenic Railroad and Chicago Basin
There are 58 officially named peaks in Colorado with summit elevations over 14,000 feet (4267 m). We call them 14ers, and summiting all of them is something many people aspire to. It took me a few years to decide, but it’s a goal I’ve finally committed to. It’s a long-term goal, obviously. There are so… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: North Inlet Trail to Lakes Nokoni and Nanita
Sometimes, you just need a break from reality for a few days. And what better way to escape than with a weekend in the mountains? My fiance, our friend K, and I arrived at the trailhead around 8:00am Saturday morning and right off the bat, things got interesting. We were at the car, making final… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: East Inlet Trail to Lake Verna and Spirit Lake
A while back, my mom and I were signed up for a summer solstice group backpacking trip on East Inlet Trail, with Lake Verna and Spirit Lake as our ultimate destination. Unfortunately, the first day of summer was marked by a massive snowstorm that forced a last-minute change of plans. Fast forward a couple years,… Continue reading
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Colorado Bucket List: Backpacking the Four Pass Loop
(Updated June 2023) Sometimes, bucket list items are completely overhyped tourist traps. And sometimes, they’re more than worth the hype. The Four Pass Loop is one of the latter. We’ve seen a lot of incredible places and done a lot of amazing things in Colorado, but this one is definitely near the top of my… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Lion and Snowbank Lakes
We could stay in Colorado for the rest of our lives (personally, I have few objections to this!) and probably never run out of places to backpack in Rocky. There are so many options. I haven’t actually counted, but I’m fairly certain that at least ¾ of the trails in the park extend more than… Continue reading
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Colorado Bucket List: Hiking to Ice Lake
Do a google search for “best hikes in Colorado” and you’ll inevitably stumble across Ice Lake within the first 5 minutes of your search. And let me tell you, there’s a reason this hike appears on the majority of such lists. It’s unbelievable! It’s also popular and crowded (let’s be real, most everything in Colorado… Continue reading
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Colorado Backpacking: Blue Lakes Basin
(Update: as of 2025, this trail is closed for construction. When it reopens, permits will be required.) The title of this post was supposed to be “Colorado 14ers #2: Mount Sneffels” but, alas, the weather had a different set of plans. In fact, this post and the next two will be a three-part saga of… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Thunder Lake
Obtaining a backcountry permit for Rocky requires similar levels of intensity as many Colorado hiking feats, including summiting a 14er or finding parking at a trailhead or snagging a front country campsite anywhere during the summer. Permits become available each year on March 1st at 8:00am MST. So on March 1st at 7:59am, I was… Continue reading
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Colorado Backpacking: Browns Creek Falls
Last summer, my mom and I were lucky enough to snag spaces on an overnight backpacking trip in Rocky Mountain National Park with a local hiking group. She’d already purchased her plane ticket to come visit me for the week, so it worked out perfectly when this hike was scheduled for the very weekend she’d… Continue reading
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How To: pitch your tent in the sand
I admit, I’ve had a lot of trouble motivating myself to sit down and write my next post, which is why you haven’t heard from me in a couple weeks. I’ve been stubbornly sticking to my original plan of writing about my adventures in chronological order, and as a person who likes things to be… Continue reading
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