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.

The seasonal waterfall in the canyon south of Redstone, Colorado

Three miles south of Redstone, Colorado, in a narrow canyon, there's a seasonal waterfall that flows for just a few months each year.  When it flows, it can really gush.  It began late this year, last Friday, and the warm weather this weekend may help it reach peak quickly.

All around the Crystal River valley there are seasonal streams.  The run-off from melting snow is why they call this time of year the "mud season."  That's the season between ski season (or snowshoe season) and summer hiking season. 

This is a great time to head to the desert.  It's not nearly as hot there as it would be in the summer, and some cacti may be flowering.  We'll head to the canyons around Grand Junction next weekend, and I'll post photos of our hikes here.
travel to , ,