white river national forest
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Colorado Hikes: Mayflower Gulch
Usually, my first time hiking a trail is in the summer. Not so with Mayflower Gulch. I’ve actually hiked (or, rather, snowshoed) this trail twice in the winter. Only recently did my husband and I finally experience the beauty of Mayflower Gulch in the summer. We were headed up to the mountains for the weekend… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Booth Lake
After two relatively calm summers in terms of wildfires, I’d forgotten just how much smoke could wreak havoc on hiking plans. Then, the Front Range had its driest start to summer in over 100 years and within 48 hours, multiple fires flared up in the foothills. In addition to forcing hundreds of people to evacuate,… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Tuhare Lakes
Two years ago, my friend and I made plans to hike to Tuhare Lakes with our husbands. Two years ago was also an absolutely awful summer for wildfires in Colorado; forest closures, evacuation zones, and suffocating smoke thwarted many plans… including this one. The original plan was to reschedule for summer 2021 instead, but we… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Chihuahua Lake
As you know if you’ve followed me for any length of time, alpine lakes are one of my favorite things. I hike to a lot of them. So when I say that Chihuahua Lake is one of the prettiest lakes I’ve seen in Colorado, I have a pretty good basis for comparison. Now that I’ve… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Pitkin Lake
This past fall, my friend diagnosed herself with FOMOOL: fear of missing out on leaves. Peak fall colors season is generally sometime in the last couple weeks of September, although it varies throughout the state and depends on the weather. A wet summer followed by a dry fall is apparently the ideal combination… which is… Continue reading
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Colorado Bucket List: fall colors at the Maroon Bells
While finally getting to see Independence Pass was lovely, the real reason for our weekend trip was because I had secured us an entrance permit for the Maroon Bells. These two iconic 14ers are the centerpiece of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area near Aspen, Colorado. This was our third trip to the Bells; the first… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Lost Man Lake
Last week, I wrote all about our mid-September drive over Independence Pass and mentioned our stop at Lost Man Trailhead to hike to three alpine lakes. This week, it’s time to talk about this hike in more detail and share photos (lots of photos… maybe too many photos) of the lakes and the views and… Continue reading
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Colorado Bucket List: driving Independence Pass
Like so many other things since we’ve moved to Colorado, this was somewhat of a third time is the charm situation for us. The first time we drove Independence Pass we were en route to the Maroon Bells, but we’d left home after work and by the time we made it this far it was… Continue reading
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Colorado 13ers: Father Dyer Peak
On so many occasions since moving to Colorado, my fiance and I have been sitting at a lake gazing up at the surrounding mountains, pointed, and said “whoa look, there’s a person up there!” Well… this time I was the person up there, gazing down on half a dozen lakes from a 13,596 foot (4144… 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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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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Chasing fall colors on Boreas Pass
Autumn in Colorado is never going to be the same as autumn on the east coast. We just don’t have as many trees that turn so many vibrant shades of color. But we do have cottonwoods and aspens and willows, all of which turn yellow (and sometimes the aspens even give us a little bit… 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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Colorado Hikes: West Maroon Creek Trail to Crater Lake
There are multiple Crater Lakes in Colorado. There are also multiple Blue Lakes. And Columbine Lakes. And probably lots of other duplicate names as well. Whoever is in charge of the Colorado Lake Naming Commission needs to up their standards for naming creativity. But it’s probably too late for that now, so I’ll just begin… Continue reading
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Colorado Bucket List: Sunrise at the Maroon Bells
I said when I began this Colorado Bucket List series that some of these “must-do” items are probably a little overrated and/or cliché. Some of them are also excessively popular and crowded. This is absolutely one of the most popular and crowded items on the list, but it’s by no means overrated. There’s a reason… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Mayflower Gulch (winter version)
Mayflower Gulch is a beautiful winter destination! The only downfall is that to get there from the Front Range, one must brave the ski traffic on I-70. And boy does that suck. We were on the road before dawn and traffic was already building. It took an extra 30 minutes to get there and an… Continue reading
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Colorado Bucket List: Hanging Lake
There are a few things that, when you visit or live in Colorado, you just have to do. Some of them are silly and some of them are excessively popular and some of them are probably pretty cliché. But some of them are also on the must-do list for a reason. As we work our… Continue reading
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Summiting our First Colorado 14er – Quandary Peak
Most everyone hoping to summit their first Colorado 14,000 foot (4267 m) peak faces the same dilemma (or, shall I say, quandary): what’s the easiest one to start with? By most accounts, Mount Bierstadt and Quandary Peak are two of the “easier” ones, but I put easier in quotes because it’s all relative. There are… Continue reading