CO hikes
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Estes Cone
Estes Cone was not plan A for Chelsea and me on this particular weekend. But April and May in Colorado are part of what Coloradans call the “spring of deception.” No matter how warm and sunny it is, no matter how many days in a row the nice weather endures, make no mistake: it’s not… Continue reading
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Colorado Bucket List: Picketwire Canyon Dinosaur Tracks
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m a dinosaur snob. I can’t help it. I grew up in an area with a pretty fantastic dinosaur museum. The bar was set really high when I was really young, so I’m not easily impressed. But this place was really cool! Picketwire Canyon is located… 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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A day trip to Pawnee National Grassland
The lands of northeastern Colorado have been inhabited for at least 12,000 years, originally by nomadic hunters. More recently, these lands were the home of the Arapaho and Cheyenne, who were forcibly removed in the 1880s to allow white settlers to establish homesteads and farm the land. As settlers soon learned, though, this shortgrass prairie… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Helms Lake (the winter version)
As I’ve spent more time in Colorado and gained more knowledge and confidence in my winter hiking abilities, I’ve begun to push myself harder. I’ve tackled longer and more challenging hikes, and been rewarded with gorgeous snow-covered views and relative solitude. But I’ve also established some limits on just how much I’m willing to challenge… Continue reading
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A weekend in Twin Lakes, Colorado
The combination of living in Colorado and having a winter anniversary always makes it difficult to figure out how we’re going to celebrate. You just never know what the weather has in store, especially in the mountains. This year we actually had the opposite problem from what we expected: it was going to be too… Continue reading
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Colorado Summits: Greyrock Mountain
The wild fluctuations and extremes of mountain weather is something that can be hard to grasp, particularly for someone who hasn’t spent much time in them. Hell, I’ve spent most of my life living near and exploring the mountains, and I still underestimate them from time to time. Mountains do weird and intense things to… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Burning Bear Trail
The Guanella Pass area is moose territory. So when we headed up Burning Bear Trail one January morning, adjacent to an expanse of willows, I was on the lookout. Just a few minutes up the trail we encountered a fellow hiker who informed us there were four of them just ahead in the willows. Despite… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Black Lake (the winter version)
Exactly one week after hiking to Sky Pond in the winter – my last hike of the year – I found myself back at Glacier Gorge trailhead, this time with a friend, for my first hike of the new year! We were fighting cold gusty winds as we readied ourselves to head up the other… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Sky Pond (the winter version)
Frozen alpine lakes have become one of my favorite things since moving to Colorado. I just love the icy winter scenery so much. It’s already become an annual thing for us to hike to some of the more easily accessible lakes in Rocky every winter. But this winter, my friend and I had a more… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Chair Rocks
Have you ever walked along a trail mere minutes before a car went flying off the road and landed on said trail, right where you’d just walked? No? Neither had I… until this hike. My friend and I set out early one Saturday morning, the landscape beautifully dusted with snow from an overnight storm. The… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Deer Mountain
It’s not every day that you hike a trail and find yourself nearly face-to-face with its namesake animal. But such was the case on Deer Mountain. (Better than coming face-to-face with a bear on Bear Peak, I suppose.) There were four of them, and they couldn’t have been more than 15 feet (4.5 m) away.… 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: Mohawk Lakes
The Spruce Creek Trail to Mohawk Lakes is one of the most popular hikes near Breckenridge, Colorado. Generally, we try to avoid extremely busy trails such as this one. But some hikes are pretty enough that you just have to suck it up and brace yourself for the crowds. We hoped that arriving early morning… Continue reading
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Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Twin Sisters Peak
2020 was a rough year for all of us, Rocky included. First, the park was closed for weeks in the spring due to the pandemic. Then it closed again for 15 days in October and November due to forest fires. In all, nearly 30,000 acres of the park burned. It was absolutely devastating to watch… Continue reading
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Colorado Summits: Bison Peak
Above tree line is one of my favorite places to be. I love the panoramic views and the tiny plants and the beautiful desolation of the tundra. Tree line here in Colorado is around 11,600-11,800 feet (3535-3600 m); above that elevation, you can generally expect either an endless jumble of rocks or a vast expanse… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Missouri Lakes-Fancy Pass Loop
Judging by the name, one might assume this hike would pass by Missouri Lakes en route to Fancy Pass before looping back to the trailhead… which is somewhat accurate. You do hike past the Missouri Lakes. And you do climb Fancy Pass. And also Missouri Pass. Plus, you hike to Fancy Lake and Treasure Vault… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Shelf Lake
My Colorado readers can verify this: no matter where you are in the state, there’s always that one person who somehow manages to make it up a terribly rough dirt road in their low clearance car. Trailhead parking lots will inevitably be filled with trucks and SUVs… and a Toyota sedan. The very first thing… Continue reading
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Colorado Bucket List: Backpacking the Four Pass Loop
(Updated July 2026) 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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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