Beautiful trail with good views of the river. Not strenuous and worth doing even if you're not…read morefishing. The coverage isn't there when the sun is up mid day so highly recommend doing this earlier because it gets really hot. Was able to get parking easily which was a bonus.

This hike captures what I envision as a picture postcard Colorado. The crystal clear Platte River…read morereflect the surrounding colors of nature. There were just as many fly fishermen as hikers. As a hiker it does not get full stars because signage is near non-existent. Many hikers note the frustration of getting lost. My party still got lost even though we had two people who hiked it multiple times. You can't get too lost since it is a Canyon. If you aim to get to the dam, you will need to head towards the rim of the canyon. One tends to gravitate toward the river trail, and lose site of the path towards the top. The hike is moderate with "treacherous" conditions. The loose gravel earth and getting lost makes it tricky with the constant sliding. Poles will prove helpful. It totals about 7 miles. We opted to take the loop even though it is a tad longer and less scenic because of getting lost. After reaching the dam, note if you decide to take the loop it goes through a section recovering from forest fires. The last 1.5 miles goes through a dirt road shared by two way car traffic. Choose the lesser of two evils.

Mt. Bailey is the visually prominent peak you see every time you drive east bound through the town…read moreof Bailey on your way to Denver and the Front Range plains. It is a mountain summit in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of CO. The 9,089 foot peak is located 1.0 miles northeast of the community of Bailey in Park County, CO. This area is surrounded by private property, and the only known public access is the trail leading to the summit. The cliffs, while appealing for rock climbing, are also private property. You park and start at a children's playground. The trail head is visible and you will begin with a gradual but steady climb. Once at the summit area you will see the communications tower area, complete with barbed wire. Please do NOT disturb the area - disturbing the private property could jeopardize everyone's access to this peak. This trail is not really a good trail for mountain bikes or horses. It is only a half mile each way not worth the effort of bringing a bike here. The trail gets LOTS of use by the locals, one of them introduced me to this trail. I was told when it snows, it gets packed down and turns icy. So bring your microspikes or other traction devices. Tip: This is not a backpacking destination since its too short of a trail. This is more of a day hike when you want your heart to go pitter patter :0 Directions:From Denver, drive on Highway 285 west (signs say south) through Aspen Park. Continue to Annex Lane (about 26 miles west of C-470/285 intersection). Turn south and drive on CO RD 72, turn right (south)on Burland Dr. Drive until you see the parking area and the playgound (about a mile). Yes. You can bring your four legged bff!

Short 1/2 mile hike with great views from the top. Please stay to the left as you head up, to the…read moreright is private property and we want to be good neighbors. No trash cans here so pack out your picnic lunch. Cliffs at top so monitor your children. Most things done here are by volunteers and you are welcome to help too. If heading to the top is too steep, the 1st half of an easy trails stays in the aspens at the bottom.

I am surprised that I am the first to review this trail. It seemed like a fairly well traveled…read moretrail. I was looking for something in the bailey area that was easy to moderate to take my girl scouts on. Scouring through alltrails and then asking on some women hiking groups on facebook i managed to get a few recommendations. Shadow Pines loop trail is a jefferson county open space trail. It is a 3.9 mile loop with 360 feet of elevation gain. Dogs are welcome on the trail but MUST be on a leash! There are 2 different entrances to this trail. One with a small parking lot and one with a larger parking lot, a bathroom and picnic tables. We started at the one with the smaller parking lot. Its a relatively small and gentle incline. Really this would be good for all skill levels. As you get up on the lollipop portion of the trail, you will begin to get more into the trees and you feel like you are really more in nature. There are some great views along the way as well. The girls were all pleased with the hike. I would do it again if in the area for sure.

Nice campground facilities near a lake with plenty of wildlife viewing opportunities including…read moredeer, heron and a large variety of birds. Only dislike is the daily park pass at $8.

It's a tough thing to be from CO and recommend great trails. Coloradans naturally want to gatekeep…read morebeautiful secrets, but had to write a review for this incredible hiking trail (which I'm sure isn't really a secret). Took my 12 year old daughter backpacking on this trail and we had a fantastic time. There are plenty of areas to set up a tent along the creek for the first 2 miles. After that the elevation climbs and you have to wait until 4 miles or so and you aren't as close to water. There were hardly any mosquitos, but a lot of flies. The flies were relentless, and only one type seemed to bite. Some bug spray helped a little. The scenery was beautiful. Greener than a lot of spots in CO due to the creek and massive boulders everywhere. There's a lot of bird activity including humming birds. There wasn't a ton of foot traffic either. The trail is narrow but maintained. I do not suggest going on the unmaintained trail on the other side of the creek. We hiked the maintained trail in and the unmaintained trail out and there were several spots that were difficult with a 40 lb backpack on due to loose dirt and gravel. Just stay on the main trail especially if you have kids packing in. The water level was pretty low in some areas and the only fish we saw in our spot were tiny ones, so it's probably not great for anglers. The road leading there is a long dirt road and goes down to a single lane in some spots so take it slow. One driver was being very irresponsible and driving as fast as possible and taking turns quickly so as to spin out and nearly hit us! You can't see around curves and there are steep drop offs, so please drive cautiously. There's no cell service out there (AT&T), so remember the turns you made driving and landmarks like campgrounds and ranches. Beautiful spot. Would recommend.

I did this as part of a larger loop last weekend. The trail conditions for this segment were really…read moregood. It's a long trail, but not too difficult for a reasonably in shape person. Usually, you can walk two abreast and the river crossings are not hard. Lots of nice campsites every mile or so, visible right next to the trail. Once you get away from the trailhead, firewood is plentiful. Some camp sites are right next to water, so you can filter it and you're good. Others, you may have to carry water there. We did have some wet weather, which wasn't bad if you have good raincoats. Naturally, if you go to higher elevations, the rain comes down as snow, or hail, even in June. If you're just doing Goose Creek, within the first 7-8 miles, it's super easy to follow. However, good maps are available for free from the USGS web site. We also had a good map for Lost Creek from Amazon. Not too hard to get to the trail head, although you do have to drive about 15 miles of windy dirt road. It takes about 45 minutes for that part, especially if you have to back up to let someone go the other way on one of the single lane parts.

Easy to get to just off 85. Easy hike/snowshoeing as well…read more Just got back from hiking the full 11.5 miles. It's a very quite lightly trafficked location. As of today not enough snow to snow shoe and not enough to wear spikes as well. So we decided to get rid of both. About eight or more short switchbacks and a gradual uphill nothing strenuous. When you enter the Pike National Forest you're about halfway to your destination. Trail is well marked and only horses and hikers are allowed here. Solitude and enough length of trail to keep a hiker happy.

Awesome trail for snowshoeing. It is well marked on Hwy 285, with parking along the road. It…read morestarts quickly on an incline with switchbacks to accommodate the climb, but levels off after a while. Within a few minutes we were far enough up the trail that we did not hear any traffic. From there on out, it was just us. No animal sightings, but we did see tracks and scat. It was a windy day, but once in the trees and after working just a little bit, we were amply warm and happy. I felt like we could have hiked for hours and never seen another person. It was the perfect first time experience at snowshoeing. I think the Lost Creek Wilderness would be great during any season. In fact I learned of this hiking/snowshoeing destination from an REI employee who helped me find the right snowshoeing shoes. He got married in this forest preserve. I envy him that beauty and experience. The Ben Tyler trailhead is at 8260ft elevation and over 11 miles in length. The link I provide is of a map. Each trail name is linked to a history and description of the trail.

Thanks to the Conservation Corps for building this highway (Trail) from Heaven. It's not a 4WD…read moreTrail but if you have an off road vehicle the Trail that runs next to it is awesome. The views are nothing but spectacular. Camping, hiking, MXing and 4WDing all to be done.

Used to be an awesome area, but went to complete sh_t the last 10 years. BLM got so sick of it…read morethey finally made it fee camping. Yet we drove through there and see piles of trash left behind that they just leave there for the next camper???? WTF? On our last visit we passed up 3 sites due to this. Lots of people running generators, driving their atv's illegally on the main road, ignoring the dozens of signs which clearly state you cannot do that. Where are the Rangers? Step up your game BLM.

Beautiful drive to Como from Breckenridge. Wildflowers in the summer and leave watching in the…read morefall.4x4 recommended. Outside of FairPlay coming up 285.

Do you consider yourself a nature person? If so, I highly recommend the Boreas Pass experience. If…read morenot, it might be a really boring drive. As nature lovers, we've done it twice. I can't imagine being in Breckenridge in the fall and not experiencing Boreas Pass. If the aspen trees are turning, there's no better way to spend an afternoon. You can do it as quickly or as leisurely as you like for us. It has taken us about 4 hours. From Breckenridge, in the fall, I wouldn't leave after noon to get started. We love to stop and take pictures and get out and walk a little bit too. We've done it in the fall with the Aspen's turning yellow, and I can't recommend it enough. If you complete the whole drive, you'll experience quite a bit of elevation change. This last time when we were returning to Breckenridge the tire pressure indicator light in the car turned on after we had finished the drive and we're headed back to Breckenridge. There are gas stations with air pumps but they are few and far between. It might be a good idea to stop and put air in your tires in Fairplay, CO before making the drive back to the town you are visiting. (Assuming, here, that locals don't need to read Yelp reviews for Boreas Pass). We ate at Otto's Food Cart in Alma, CO, but then had to head back to FairPlay, CO where the original Otto's restaurant is located to put air in our tires. Next time we might check out Otto's in FairPlay and air up our tires around the corner before heading back to Breck. September 2024