Heise - Hiking Colorado

Hiking Colorado

An imprint of Rowman & Littlefield

Falcon and FalconGuides are registered trademarks and Make Adventure Your Story is a trademark of Rowman & Littlefield.

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright 2003, 2011, 2016 by Rowman & Littlefield

Published by Globe Pequot in 2002 as Hiking Colorado III

All interior photos are by the authors (except for photo on p. 396).

Maps Rowman & Littlefield

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Information available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

ISBN 978-1-4930-1419-4 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-4930-1420-0 (e-book)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

The authors and Rowman & Littlefield assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

Contents

The Hikes

Acknowledgments

Colorado blue columbine, the state flower. S. Heise

Every time I set foot on a trail, a deep sense of gratitude and excitement sweep over meno matter how many times Ive been in that very same spot before. Im grateful for the beauty that surrounds me, the wonderful people who accompany me, the ability to be there, and the opportunity to be there.

Ive hiked around the worldfrom the tundra of Arctic Alaska to trails in Patagonia, the pikes of Great Britain to the summit of Kilimanjaro, the Great Walks of New Zealand to great treks in the Himalayas. The trails of Colorado rank right up there with many of these. I feel truly fortunate to live in such a magnificent place. Discovering many of the trails in this book, especially when I thought I knew my home state so well, has been a joy.

Huge thanks to those who joined me on these hikes: Beth Utton, Nancy McCurry, and Chris Klotz. And to those who have joined me multiple times over the years: Patty Tweed, Sandy Stuller, Yvonne DAndrea, Liese Krauser, Kate Smail, Karen Goettler, and many fellow members of the Colorado Mountain Club.

My special thanks to: Beth Utton, whose knowledge and deep love of nature inspire my own, and Stan Gelb for keeping us entertained during many outings (even when he breaks the no-corny-jokes-below-10,000-feet rule); Helen and Dan McRae, who feed me gourmet meals and soothe my soul after long days of hiking, climbing, and skiing; Kate Smail and Liese Krauser for sharing their lovely home with me while I was working on the Southwest hikes; Cindy Foley, for distracting me from my hiking obsession with other activities, like river rafting and tequila tasting; and Clyde Soles, for introducing me to Maryann Gaug and getting me involved in this project.

Much gratitude to Maryann Gaug for creating this rich, inspiring guide. I now know what an amazing amount of work went into it, and I greatly appreciate the high quality and spirit of that work. Thank you for handing me the baton and trusting me to do a good job of revising it. Thanks to the whole team at Falcon.

Many thanks to the land agency employees who reviewed my revisions and gave helpful input. The hard work of all of these federal, state, county, and municipal agencies to maintain trails and preserve wild country is amazing and deeply appreciated. Without them, Colorado would not be the unique and wonderful place that it is.

Maryann and I would especially like to thank all of those people who not only saw the need to preserve open space and wildlands but who followed through on their visions. Over the years, many people have worked tirelessly to create the fantastic collection of parks and open space landsalong with the national forests, parks, monuments, and wildlife refugesthat we enjoy today in Colorado. Thanks also go to the citizens of various cities and counties for consistently voting to tax themselves to purchase and preserve more lands, not only for recreation and urban buffers but also to protect valuable wildlife habitat. We all owe a great debt to these people, and to the people who continue the work of maintaining existing lands and procuring new ones.

Wed like to thank all of the individuals in the many volunteer groups who assist the land management agencies with everything from trail maintenance and construction to fund-raising to keep these lands so very special. If you havent, please consider joining one of these groups and using your talents to help in whatever way is needed.

To all of those I met on the trails, thanks for your good cheer, and respect and love for the outdoors.

Huge thanks to you readers and fellow hikers for buying the fourth edition of Hiking Colorado . We hope that you find it useful and interesting, and that you find your own special places from within these pages to enjoy on your personal adventures or with friends and loved ones.

Sandy Heise

Introduction

Colorado! The word conjures images of rugged peaks, cascading mountain streams, and crystal-clear alpine lakes. Indeed, the states middle section lives up to those expectations, but the state as a whole offers so much more. Colorados western canyon country, carved by raging torrents, is rich in dinosaur graveyards and the artifacts and ruins of Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont Indians, all well worth exploring. The Eastern Plains, long thought too flat to be scenic, have plenty of natural delights tucked away for the hiker. Buttes rise above the plains, providing a haven for hawks and falcons, while southeastern canyons cache signs of ancient inhabitants, including American Indian petroglyphs and North Americas largest known dinosaur tracksite.