THE 2021 SEASON

The 2021 Season has started. Though the pandemic created a challenging 2020 season, I am looking forward to building on the 2020 season to create an incredible 2021 season. The pandemic has taught me a few things about when and where to go hiking. As such planning for the 2021 season is going to look a little different, but still looking forward to a great season on the trail.

Horn Creek Lakes

September 4, 2021 · The trek to Horn Creek Lakes in the Southern Central Sangre de Cristo Wilderness is a beautiful hike. It is not a very difficult hike, but it is long. The steepest part of the trail is at the beginning of the trail, after that it is a nice long gentle glide up to Horn Creek Lakes. The trail is on the East side of the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness, and part of the San Isabel National Forest. Trails on the East side of the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness tend to be wet and lush when compared to the trails on the West side of the Wilderness.

Lake Fork Trail

July 17, 2021 · The trek along the Lake Fork River in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness is an interesting trail in a wide valley. The trail goes by several different names and spellings, I know it as Clohesy Lake Trail, though the spelling of the lake varies. The trail is also known as Pear Lake Trail, however since the trail runs along the Lake Fork River inside this valley, I will call it the Lake Fork Trail.

Henry Lake

June 12, 2021 · The hike to Henry Lake in the Fossil Ridge Wilderness was for the most part a relatively easy hike. It was a long hike, but much of the trail is along the floor of a V-shaped valley. The Fossil Ridge Wilderness area is in the middle of the Gunnison National Forest and close to Taylor Park Reservoir. The rock formations in this area are darker and more porous than the granite peaks that make up a large portion of the White River National Forest and was a welcome change of scenery.

McCullough Gulch

May 28, 2021 · The trek along McCullough Gulch in the White River National Forest was a true Shoulder Season hike, complete with snow-free trails, snow-covered trails meandering off the documented trail, postholing in knee-deep and waist-deep snow as well as some snowshoeing. I did this trek on the Friday before the Memorial Day Weekend, with the hopes of beating the crowds to this trail, and for the most part that was the case on this trail. Because I did this trek on the Friday before the start of the holiday weekend, the gate to the trailhead was still closed. As such, a fair amount of the trek was walking a long a dirt road to the actual trailhead.

Boulder Creek Trail - Snowshoeing

April 24, 2021 · The snowshoeing trek along Boulder Creek Trail to Rogers Lake in the James Peak Wilderness was an early Spring incredible snowshoeing trek. It had snowed nearly every day for the past week and on this day the sun came out and there were very few clouds, making for a very bright day on the trail. The weather was perfect, a minor breeze at the Moffat Tunnel East Portal trailhead.

Ouzel Trail - Snowshoeing

January 1, 2021 · The Ouzel Lake trail was the first trek of the 2021 season and has proven to be more difficult to reach Ouzel Lake in the Winter. The trail is a nice trail but is deceptively difficult in the Winter. Despite best intentions, I stepped onto the trail about an hour later than I planned, and by this time there were a surprising number of people on the trail for the first day of the New Year.

MORE SEASONS ON THE TRAIL

2021

The 2021 Season has started. Though the pandemic created a challenging 2020 season, I am looking forward to building on the 2020 season to create an incredible 2021 season. The pandemic has taught me a few things about when and where to go hiking. As such planning for the 2021 se...

2020

The 2020 hiking season has been incredible, even in the face of adversity. The pandemic has made for a logistically challenging season. Somehow, I was still able to piece together an incredible 230+ miles on the trail this season and able to see some truly spectacular places. Enj...

2019

The 2019 hiking season was an interesting season, this was the first season that I started and ended the season snowshoeing and a full summer of hiking for a total of just under 225 miles on the trail. What this season has taught me is that it's winter in the mountains for a long...

2018

The 2018 Summer Hiking Season has come to an end. What a season, incredible views and just over 230 miles on the trail. Even with 230 miles, this season seems short to me, perhaps I'll add something to it during the winter season - snowshoeing perhaps. In the meantime, I hope you...

2017

The 2017 hiking season was interesting, I was able to explorer more of Colorado's National Forests and get in some camping, not as much camping as I would have liked, but hopefully next year I'll able to get in more multi-day hikes. This season came in just under 129 miles roundt...

2016

The 2016 hiking season was about spreading out and exploring more of Eagles Nest Wilderness, Indian Peaks Wilderness and touching on White River National Forest - and of course a few trips into Rocky Mountain National Park. These are amazing National treasures. This season came i...

2015

The 2015 hiking season was a big hiking season, I decided to do a fundraiser for The Red Cross (I learned a lot about fundraising - it was very interesting) with my pledge to hike over 200 miles for this season, I came in at 217 miles for the season; what a great time out on the ...

2014

The 2014 hiking season was almost all about exploring Rocky Mountain National Park, it really is a beautiful park. What I learned during the course of this hiking season is, although people may roll their eyes when you say you're going on a hike in RMNP, it really is spectacular ...

2013

2013 is the year this all started. The hike to Pitkin Lake started it all. Although it was a difficult trail, I was hooked immediately. However, I didn't have the right gear and the seasons were changing quickly. So, even though this season only brought two hikes, I new this was ...

AREAS HIKED

Collegiate Peaks Wilderness9
Eagles Nest Wilderness10
Fossil Ridge Wilderness1
Fraser Experimental Forest1
Gunnison National Forest1
Holy Cross Wilderness12
Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness3
Indian Peaks Wilderness17
James Peak Wilderness1
Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness2
Mount Evans Wilderness2
Mount Massive Wilderness2
Pike National Forest1
Raggeds Wilderness1
Rocky Mountain National Park41
San Isabel National Forest6
Sangre de Cristo Wilderness1
White River National Forest10
Zirkel Wilderness1

TRAILS BY MONTH

January3
February2
March2
April3
May5
June16
July26
August26
September27
October5
November4
December3