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.

early autumn morning in Colorado

This isn't the wilderness. It's a bend in the Crystal River about a mile from my home. It's one of my favorite places to wander around, in all seasons. The river was high last Saturday due to some recent rains, and this pool was fed by water flowing under the rocks.


That's Chair Mountain in the background.  Chair Mountain is part of the Raggeds, and the Raggeds Wilderness is one of many wilderness areas that are easily accessible from this part of Colorado.