Day Hiking the Colorado Trail - Volume 1: Denver to Twin Lakes

Explore the Colorado Trail with simple out-and-back day hikes. Most people know the Colorado Trail as a long-distance thru-hike requiring over a month of high-elevation backpacking and the physical fitness that requires. Laura and Kevin break the trail into day hikes, giving everyone the chance to enjoy this world-class trail, and then return to the comfort of their own bed!

Day Hiking the Colorado Trail, Volume 1, provides 61 hikes along the first 183 miles of the CT and includes lots of beautiful color photos. These hikes vary between 1 and 18 miles, with most of the hikes about 5 to 7 miles long. Each hike includes information about how to get there (including GPS coordinates), parking, features, terrain, length, and elevation.

Learn where and how to access the trail and what you'll experience on your day hike. The authors have researched and visited every access point along the trail, not just the beginning and end of the CT "Segments". There are so many ways to enjoy the Colorado Trail, and we give you detailed information about what to look for along the way. We hiked every hike in the book, so all the tips and highlights are included here.

Day hikers enjoy the Colorado Trail differently than thru-hikers, this book helps you maximize your day hiking experience. Day hiking the CT usually involves an out-and-back hike, which means you see the trail and the scenery around you from different angles, and in different light, over the course of your hike. Day hiking makes it possible to hike earlier in the season, when the wildflowers are blooming at lower elevations. One of the best parts of day hiking the Colorado Trail is reveling in the autumn colors, long after most thru-hikers have stopped backpacking at Colorado's high elevations. Day hiking the CT can be especially quiet and peaceful, since few hiking guides or agencies point visitors to this sometimes-forgotten trail.

Hike to sparkling streams, refreshing waterfalls, reflective lakes, glorious passes, and stunning views! In addition to immersing yourself in nature and wilderness, you'll be amazed by the Colorado history you'll experience on the Colorado Trail and the interesting people you'll meet. Thru-hikers come from around the world to experience this unique high-elevation trail, but you don't have to commit to the whole thing all at once. Day hikers can enjoy manageable bits of the trail at their own convenience.

Follow in the footsteps of modern-day thru-hikers, historical miners and settlers, and the indigenous people who first set trails through Colorado's Rocky Mountains. This book is best accompanied by the FarOut app and the official Colorado Trail Guidebook, published by the Colorado Trail Foundation, but you can also use this book independently.

Also look for Volumes 2 & 3, covering day hikes on the rest of the Colorado Trail.