Welcome to the Colorado backcountry

The vast acreage of wilderness and backcountry beauty in Colorado make it one of the more popular locations for camping, backpacking, and day-hiking.

In addition to a eight National Parks and Monuments, Colorado boasts an equal number of Wilderness Areas, millions of acres of National Forest and BLM land, and over three dozen state parks.

From mountains to deserts, and grasslands to canyons, one could spend a lifetime hiking the trails of Colorado and not cover all of them.

Lower Savage Lake, Holy Cross Wilderness area

I couldn't stop at just one. This is the lower Savage Lake. Just about any view across the lake was nice. What I looked for as I walked around, were interesting foreground elements. Because the polarizer allowed me to cut through the glare of the water, I also liked shallow rocks.



The Holy Cross Wilderness Area has many great trails, and is accessible from both the Frying Pan Valley as well as the the Eagle River Valley.  As backcountry hiking goes, the trailheads east of Ruedi Reservoir give an explorer access to some of the most incredible scenery anywhere in the rocky mountains.

Upper Savage Lake, Holy Cross Wilderness area

A return to one of my favorite destinations allowed me to see the upper lake, and some of its features, from a different vantage. I love these rocks, and spent quite some time exploring how I could use them in the foreground of a landscape photo.


Savage Lakes (and the side spur to Carter Lake), in the Holy Cross Wilderness Area, make a better day hike than backpack trip.  The trail is not terribly challenging, and there are many places to explore at both lakes (as well as the "third lake," one of several ponds high above the upper lake).