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.

Mormon Lake, Holy Cross Wilderness area

The hike to Lyle and Mormon Lakes is one of my favorites, despite only doing it twice. There are many opportunities to view the lakes from above, and complex shorelines with all sorts of interesting features that I incorporated into my photos.

We've done this as day hikes until now, but think that it would make a great backpacking trip, as there's so much to explore here.


This shot was taken on our way back to Lyle Lake.  As you can see, most of the wildflowers are gone now, and the amber and red hues of autumn are starting to dominate the scenery. 

Also in the Holy Cross Wilderness, like Savage, Carter, and Josephine Lakes, the trail to Lyle and Mormon lakes is on the way up to Hagerman Pass at the eastern end of the Frying Pan valley.