Hiking in Colorado & the Great Outdoors
This is a guest post written by Brad and Ying from the Jolly Hobos. They are full time travellers who appreciate slow travel, wildlife, and the outdoors. Since 2019, they have been “homeless” digital nomads travelling the world. Follow them on Twitter and Instagram.
For outdoor lovers looking for new destinations to explore and new experiences to enjoy, then travelling is one of the best ways to experience more.
As a travel destination, the United States is great for those looking for hiking trips and outdoor experiences to get into, especially so with its multitude of terrains, national parks and unique flora and fauna.
The challenge with travel to huge countries like the US is choosing where to go when you have limited time. That can make choosing a destination difficult, especially when you don’t have the local knowledge to know for sure what you are going to get.
With so many places to visit in the US, where should you go to ensure that you have a great experience? We spent a couple of years living in Boulder Colorado, and in our opinion, Colorado offers everything needed for an outdoor adventure trip crammed full of fun and nature!
Here is a quick intro to hiking in Colorado from our experience. Whether it’s some short day hikes, full day hikes, or even multi-day hikes, Colorado has something for everyone.
Unless you are a rugged, experienced outdoor adventurer, the time to hike is summer and fall (autumn for the rest of us) from June through October. Colorado is a high-altitude state where the average elevation is 6,800 feet (just over 2km in elevation) and boasts 58 Fourteeners (mountains with peaks over 14,000 feet). So if you are wanting to hit the mountain trails you need to wait until summer is in swing as by June most of the snow pack has melted and you have great weather. Speaking of great weather, Coloradans always boast of 300+ days of sunshine a year. In our opinion that’s a bit of a stretch as the days often start clear and sunny but end with clouds – but it’s nice most of the time.
Most of the great hiking involves getting out into the mountains, but luckily the mountains are literally on the doorstep of the major centres. We lived in the small university city of Boulder which is blessed with fabulous mountains and hikes just minutes from the city centre. If you base yourself in Denver, then you also have plenty of hiking trails only 20 – 30 minutes from downtown.
- Highlights of Hiking in Colorado
- Areas for Hiking in Colorado
- Apres Hiking
- Hiking in Colorado – Love It!
1. Highlights of Hiking in Colorado
In our view, here are some of the main highlights of hiking in Colorado.
Wildlife
Colorado is full of great wildlife that is frequently spotted. For the bigger mammals, we have seen moose, elk, deer, and bighorn sheep while hiking in Colorado. Then there are plenty of squirrels, chipmunks, marmots and other smaller mammals that you’ll frequent.
Out of the big animals, we never saw a black bear or mountain lion (cougar) while hiking in Colorado, although we did see the evidence of a mountain lion on a hike in Boulder where there was a severed deer leg laying near the trail!
Although we love these big animals, we were not disappointed that we didn’t come face to face with any during our hikes!
Wildflowers
Hiking in Colorado through beautiful mountains is amazing regardless of the season, but if you time it with the blooming of the wildflowers then you are in for a stunning visual treat. Fields of blooming flowers of all shapes, sizes and colours line the walking trails, flow through the meadows and surge near the waterways. The wildflowers bloom from May through August depending on where, often dictated by the altitude – so the earlier you are in the season the lower altitudes will have the best flowers, later in the season you need to be up higher. We did an incredible couple of days hiking for Ying’s birthday around Crested Butte and were treated to incredible valleys and mountain slopes bursting with wildflowers.
Landscapes – Mountains, Lakes, Streams
Colorado is a very rugged area with over 6% of the state being declared wilderness. A lot of hikes take you into some of these wilderness areas, and although they are well marked and trafficked, you are in pristine areas of soaring rocky peaks, small glaciers, thousands of small mountain lakes and beautiful babbling streams.
We just adored the hikes that followed the path of streams, creeks and rivers as that cool water brought so much greenery and wildlife all while being surrounded by massive snow-covered mountain peaks.
Aspen Trees
If you aren’t in Colorado for the wildflower season, then try to be there mid-September to mid-October for the fall season as the aspen trees turn. It is truly a sight to behold with large swathes of mountains covered in yellow and gold hues. These work in the opposite direction of the wildflowers, so the earlier in the fall the higher up in the mountains you need to be to see the colours. We were mesmerised the first time we went into the mountains to see the aspens turn – the sheer scale of the colours sweeping the mountains is breath-taking.
2. Areas for Hiking in Colorado
There are literally innumerable places to hike, explore and visit. There is everything from short one or two mile easy hikes, to challenging full day hikes, through to multi-day backcountry hikes. You can climb a fourteener or wander around the foothills of the eastern slopes – the choice is yours.
From our experience, if we were planning hikes around Boulder we would tend to do three hour to half day hikes, when we were travelling further afield we would aim for half to full day hikes. So with that in mind, these are some of our favourite areas and hiking trails in Colorado.
Easy Access from Boulder / Denver
Boulder
We absolutely loved being in Boulder. It is a great small city with a real energy about it, and a population full of outdoor-loving people. Quite literally at the edge of the city are some fantastic hikes and walks that can be used for exercise/training like Sanitas, some are quite challenging like Green Mountain, and others like the Chautauqua area are great for sightseeing and short trails.
- Royal Arch Trail – fairly technical trail with expansive views over Boulder. This starts in the Chautauqua area
- Mount Sanitas and Sanitas Valley Loop Trail – this 3.1 mile loop with 1,300 foot elevation gain is the locals go-to for training or when time is tight – but in typical Boulder fashion, many like to do the Triple Sanitas (yup, 3 loops) and brag about their times
- Bear Canyon Trail – a favourite – and our go-to for a 3 hour morning hike or when we had visitors (nope, never saw a bear there)
- Green Mountain West Trail Loop – this is a hard hike, a bit over 7 miles but almost 3,000 feet in elevation gain
- Chautauqua: many trails starting from here – amazing views over the flat irons (iconic rock formations) and back down over Boulder
- Gregory Canyon, Range View and Flagstaff Trail Loop – just some other ones we liked that are easy to find and have a moderate degree of difficulty
Boulder also has some great restaurants and breweries, so make sure you leave some time in town to reward yourself after a great hike.
Indian Peaks Wilderness
In terms of general areas to hike, the Indian Peaks Wilderness area is without a doubt our favourite. The Indian Peaks Wilderness is very close into Boulder so is accessible but can be busy on weekends. It’s a huge area with hundreds of hiking trails and many different starting points.
Our go-to starting point was the Brainard Lake parking area, and from there you could hit up our favourite trails (we would usually do two of these in a day as they are generally between 5 and 8 miles return) that end with a beautiful lake. As you’ll note – there are a lot of lakes in this area:
- Diamond Lake
- Lake Isabelle – this was one of our favourites. On this trail we once saw 8 moose all resting around a small pond in the mid-morning sunshine, it was amazing.
- Blue Lake
- Long Lake
Rocky Mountain National Park
No trip to Colorado would be complete without a visit to the Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). The RMNP is packed with hiking trails, wildlife, lakes, waterfalls, broad meadows and soaring mountains. A few days here will allow you to really experience the grandeur of the Rockies, and some of our favourite hikes:
- Bear Lake to Fern Lake
- Hike to Ouzel and Bluebird Lakes
- Hike to Sky Pond
- Hike to Nymph, Dream, Emerald, and Haiyaha Lakes
The gateway to RMNP is a great town called Estes Park, which has plenty of choices for accommodation, and lots of choices for eating out. Wildlife is pretty abundant here too, in fact, the biggest elk we ever saw was just strolling down the street one morning munching on the green shoots from some trees by the river bank.
Colorado Springs Area
A bit over an hour south of Denver is the city of Colorado Springs which sits on the eastern slope of the Rockies and is dominated by the massive Pikes Peak mountain. Here are two very special places to hike around Colorado Springs:
Garden of the Gods
A mind-blowing rock garden with incredible red sandstone rock formations. It is hard to describe the feeling you get when observing the area, it is truly otherworldly. Although there is really only about 7 miles of hiking trails, the amount of time you spend standing and staring or taking photos means that this is easily a 4 or 5 hour trip.
The Incline
For something a bit different, try The Incline. At Manitou Springs just out of Colorado Springs, the incline is a walk/hike/climb that rises 2,000 feet vertical in less than a mile! This is the track of an old incline rail where the average gradient is 45% and gets as steep as 68%. The hike back down is 4 miles along a well-managed trail to give you a hardcore 5 mile workout.
We did it once and are glad we did, but we are also glad we didn’t have to do it again. There was genuinely a section where, even though there were stairs, you had to use all fours to get up safely.
Deeper into the Rocky Mountains
If you have some more time available, then you can’t miss the opportunity to get deeper into the Rockies. Of course, there are all sorts of familiar names for the ski season like Aspen, Vail, and Breckenridge. These places are all great to visit and hike in the summer and fall seasons.
But there are some lesser-known and super impressive places to go, below we picked our two favourite places for specific types of hikes.
Crested Butte (for wildflowers in summer)
Crested Butte is also a well-regarded ski town, but for us, the glory of it comes in peak wildflower time. We spent a few days here in late July and early August and were awed by the wildflowers.
- West Maroon Pass – this is a great hike that takes in all the scenery of the Rockies in one go. Old ruined mining shanties, wildflowers, clear streams, lakes, mountains, and some serious climbing. We did the Crested Butte to West Maroon Pass side which is an out & back (about 8 miles). But if you plan it out, you can keep going over to Aspen, which’s about 10 miles to the Aspen trailhead, but you will need to arrange transport from the trailhead.
- Rustler’s Gulch – this was spectacular, about 9 miles return on a long steady climb through a valley which is literally wildflowers as far as the eye can see. We did this one on Ying’s birthday and were also rewarded with a couple of young bull moose walking along a parallel trail to ours for about 10 minutes!
- Scarp Ridge Middle Loop – this one is a little shorter and less strenuous than the other two, but by no means comes up anything less than spectacular! Beautiful wide open vistas, lakes, and a view that goes forever from the top of the ridgeline.
Telluride (for aspen trees in autumn)
Half the fun of going to Telluride for the aspen season is actually driving through the mountains to get there and seeing all the aspen trees! It’s a good seven hour drive from Boulder to Telluride – but wow, the sights you’ll see. The glory really starts to unfold once you begin to approach the Uncompahgre Forest and Mount Sneffels (a fourteener) areas.
If you are anything like us, the drive ends up being a lot longer than seven hours because we just had to stop and take a load of photos, and we did some short walks/hikes along little stretches of forest that we found.
Once you get into Telluride you will find an abundance of short and long trails to hike that wind you through the mountains and the glowing aspen trees. To get up further, simply jump on the gondola which runs all year round and is free, and do some walks around the mountain village.
3. Apres Hiking
What’s to offer in Colorado if you are taking a day off hiking, or you want to chill after a good hike?
For one thing, Colorado has the highest number of craft breweries per capita out of all the states in America. You don’t have to travel far to find some great breweries that serve excellent beer and food – just look at this list for a starter.
There is also an impressive food scene in Colorado from fast casual to stylish casual to fine dining. We were rarely disappointed in the food and drink that we had in Colorado whether it was in the great places in Boulder or tucked away in the mountain towns.
There are also a number of other activities to partake in such as white water rafting, tubing in the rivers, hot springs around the mountains, mountain biking, horse riding, off roading and loads more.
4. Hiking in Colorado – Love It!
As you might have gathered, we love Colorado and the active lifestyle it encourages. It’s funny, as we prepared this post and looked up old notes or photographs we both had an urge to return and explore even more places – so once Covid is under control we will certainly make plans to head back and explore more!
If you have the desire to go to the US to do some exploring, add Colorado to your agenda, you won’t regret it!
Before You Go
Thanks for reading this guest post travel guide on hiking in Colorado. If travel guides like this interest you, head over to my blog page to find out more!
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