Help us plan our Colorado Adventure

July 26, 2009 8:12 PM

My wife and I are planning a backpacking trip to Colorado for the end of August. Where should we go?

We would like to do a 3-4 day trip, preferably a loop as that makes transportation easier. We are moderately experienced hikers, but have less experience in the mountains (although I've done a few of the easier 14ers).

We are looking primarily at Rocky Mountain National Park, but are open to other locations as well. Our ideal trip would feature lots of great views, good campsites, and modest trail difficulties (nothing too heroic). It would be nice, but not essential to bag another 14er along the way, perhaps as a day hike.

We have a few guidebooks (this and this) on the way from amazon, but in the mean time, would love to hear your favorite Colorado hikes.

Bonus Question - We're probably staying in Denver or Boulder for a few days before our hike. What fun things should we be sure to do/see?

posted by jpdoane to sports, hobbies, & recreation (15 comments total)

My similar question from last year
posted by jpdoane at 8:18 PM on July 26

Go to The Maroon Bells It is a good time.

Spend 1 night in Denver visiting the downtown area, then spend a night in Silverthorne whilst getting loaded at the Dillon Dam Brewery. Then continue on to Aspen.
posted by Gravitus at 8:24 PM on July 26

There are many great hikes in Boulder and Eldorado Springs. None are too difficult. I like the Mesa trailhead just outside of Eldorado Springs for a nice weekday hike. You can summit South Boulder Peak or Bear Mountain. I think! I have yet to make it all the way up! Really, you can't go wrong with any of the trails in Boulder. But, I tend to stay away from trails that allow mountain bikers (I hike with a leashed dog so it is more trouble than it is worth).
Oh, Nederland and Eldora are short drives from Boulder and there are many good trails. Brainard Lake is really popular and quite beautiful. Nederland has a good bbq joint for after your hike. I don't know what it is called but Ned is small.

Besides hiking in Boulder, Pearl Street Mall seems to be the place to go. I don't care for it but I'm broke so shopping isn't high on my list. My mom on the other hand LOVED it when she visited.

Food suggestions:
Rio for margaritas, Mountain Sun for good food and beer (cash only) and Sushi Zanmai for sushi.

Denver: I intern at the Denver Art Museum so I think you should stop by there:) There are many little museums throughout Denver if you are into that kind of thing. The only other tip for Denver is Mercury Cafe. It has a totally crunch-hippy vibe (and waitstaff!) but they serve amazing local organic food and beer. They even serve elk meat. So, you can eat some elk before you go look at elk at RMNP.

Other awesome parks in CO include Great Sand Dunes National Park and Mesa Verde National Park. Hiking on sand dunes is not easy but it is crazy fun! I really wanted to slide down a dune. And the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde are sweet. I didn't have time when I was there to take a tour that included the dwellings but I thought it would be fun. Any of the ski towns are going to have fun hikes and overpriced everything else.

Colorado is beautiful all over so you can't really go wrong!
posted by rachums at 10:33 PM on July 26

My son had a wonderful backpacking trip to Collegiate Peaks (near CO Springs) a few years ago. Several 14-ers in the area. As I recall, they camped (primitive) at the base and did day trips up the mountains, since several group members were inexperienced. A more experienced hiker might want to cross the Continental Divide.

The biggest issue was the altitude. They had to leave one leader in Buena Vista (pronounced "byoo-na") with altitude sickness b/c she hadn't had enough time to acclimate. Very un-fun trip for her after a grueling cross-country van trip with a bunch of teenagers!
posted by caroljean63 at 10:44 PM on July 26

if you're in the area hit up st. mary's glacier http://www.colorado-hiking-vacations.com/st-marys-glacier.html

Also, if you are staying in boulder drive up route 119 to Nederland. The views and town itself are amazing.
posted by Paleoindian at 11:08 PM on July 26

Sounds great! Rocky Mountain National Park is spectacular. Drink lots of water. You might ask your doctor for a prescription of Diamox to fend off altitude sickness.

If you want to have a Metafilter meetup in Denver or Boulder, let me know!
posted by lukemeister at 11:09 PM on July 26

I've always wanted to visit the Wheeler Geologic Area, it's a full day hike in though so it may be a little more than your looking for.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:14 AM on July 27

I asked about a 3 day hike a while back; ended up hiking in the Sange De Cristos, which were great. I've also done some good hikes up near Roberts Tunnel.
posted by craven_morhead at 6:49 AM on July 27 [1 favorite]

I loved loved loved the trail up to (and over) Arapaho Pass. It's a pass on the Continental Divide, around 12,000 feet elevation, with beautiful views of the surrounding Indian Peaks wilderness. You can start at the Fourth of July trailhead (near Nederland, which is in turn near Boulder), go up the pass, then down to camp at Caribou Lake. You can go on to Monarch Lake from there if you want. Or you can just use Caribou as your base and do day-hikes from there -- the Arapaho peaks are truly lovely, though the traverse between them can be a bit dicey. (By "lovely," I guess I mean some combination of the scenery and the trail and the lack of people -- they aren't 14ers, but were some of my favorite hikes during my time in Colorado.) It's been a few years since I did this, but we used to go up there often (to the pass or to the peaks; less often to Caribou, etc). Downsides: not a loop, not a 14er, probably shorter than what you had in mind; so, maybe not this trip, but you'll be happy if you go back some day.

In Boulder, I'd second the Mountain Sun (or Southern Sun) for hoppy beer. Go for a nice day hike or two in the area around Chautauqua -- there's a trail that goes up between the first and second flatiron that only takes an hour or two but is just perfect, or you can do longer hikes up Bear or Green mountain. (The short route up to the summit of Bear is great but steep as hell, fyi.) Go shopping and people-watching on Pearl St. Have some tasty Italian food at Frasca or (more cheaply) at Alba.

Ooh, and my single favorite restaurant-to-take-visitors-to when I lived there was, conveniently, near-ish the Fourth of July trailhead you'll be hiking from (right?). From Nederland, go south on the peak-to-peak highway for a mile or two; at the top of the climb out of Nederland is a place called the Sundance Lodge that has simply stunning views of the surrounding peaks. You want to go there for breakfast or lunch. Another fun one is the Gold Hill Inn, a sort of "rustic gourmet" place offering a fixed-price dinner in a pleasant setting.
posted by chalkbored at 10:31 AM on July 27

chalkbored brought up something I'd like to stress: don't pay attention to 14'ers. Sure, they're big and easy to count, but you can have way more fun without the crowds on a 13'er (some aren't even named) with as easy or technical climbing as you want without all sorts of people tramping up and down the same mountain.
posted by craven_morhead at 8:20 PM on July 27

Seconding Mountain Sun for very good food (burgers, burritos, sandwiches, etc) and great micro-brew beer.

This is a bit of a granola place. Non-happy hour beers cost $4.20..

happy hour pitcher go for about 9 bucks I think.
posted by schmoppa at 11:33 AM on July 28

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions. I'll be sure to post a summary of our trip when we get back!
posted by jpdoane at 7:21 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

We've decided to hike Rocky Mountain National Park on the Continental Divide trail - Can't wait!!

We will be staying 3 nights in Boulder prior to our hike. Any thoughts on where we should stay for <$150/night?
posted by jpdoane at 8:25 PM on August 14

It's generally either very much a couple's style or very much not, but there's always couchsurfing. Can't help you with standard accommodation though. Let me know if you want to grab a beer or something in Denver.
posted by craven_morhead at 4:34 PM on August 29

We got back a few days ago, and had an awesome time. Thanks to all who posted great answers. I marked craven_morheads as best because that other thread had a ton of great info as well, but all of your answers were helpful.

In the end, I attempted to schedule a trip similar to this, but the sites were all full on that side of the park. The ranger that I talked to was super helpful and suggested hiking the Tanahutu/North Inlet trails on the Continental Divide Trail.

Our itinerary was this:
Day 1: Tanahutu trailhead -> Sunset
Day 2: Sunset -> Renegade
Day 3: Renegade -> North Inlet Falls
Day 4: Day hike up to Lake Nakoni & Lake Nanita
Day 5: North Inlet Falls back out to the trailhead

A big highlight was Lakes Nakoni and Nanita. They are gorgeous and fun - great fishing too. Another Highlight were being up top on Day 3 (although its a long day). If anyone else does this, I highly recommend going clockwise, like we did. Its pretty gradual from Renegade up to Flat top mountain, but back down to July and North Inlet sites are super steep and tons of horrible switchbacks. Going down was tedious, I can't imagine having to hike up them.

In all, it was a great hike and we had a ton of fun! More Picutres

For our city-side adventures, we had a blast as well we spent most of our time in Boulder, staying at the Boulder Outlook hotel for 3 days before hiking. The BO is pretty unique and has great music most nights. I discovered The Jake Loggins Band there - They were awesome - check them out if you like blues.

After we got back from hiking, we stayed a night at The Allenspark Lodge, which is an awesome B&B 20 min south of Estes Park (near the Longs Peak/Wild Basin area). This was one of the highlights for us, Bob and Jaunita are great people and really fun to get to know. The Lodge itself has tons of character and haning out with the other guests was a lot of fun, especially after spending alone in the woods. Don't stay here if you want peace and quiet and solitude, but if you like meeting new people and having a unique experience, this is a great B&B.

The night before we drove back, we returned to Boulder and stayed and the amazing Hotel Boulderado. This hotel is super classy and looks straight out of the 30s. We wanted to cap our trip off with a fancy date, so we ate at the Flagstaff House, which was not cheap (we spent $150, Im sure you could do much more if you wanted to), but was phenominal food and an amazing view of the mountains and the city at night.

Other stuff we enjoyed: Pearl St, The Himalayan restaurant (underneath the cheesecake factory), The Army Store (thanks for the tent poles, guys!), Dushanbe Tea house, hiking in Chitaqua park. We also caught a Poison/Cheap Trick/Def Leppard concert in Denver which was fantastically fun!

Stuff that was ok, but not our favorite: Estes Park itself, Celestial Seasonings tour
posted by jpdoane at 6:18 AM on September 4