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.

Winter travel in the mountains - stay low or gear up

 The onset of winter makes it more challenging to reach the backcountry.  Snowshoes are my favorite means of venturing out in winter, even if I can't get nearly as far as I can on snow-free trails in the summer. 

We've received several feet of snow so far, but settling, melting, and evaporation mean that you can get around pretty well with just boots below 9,000 feet.  Above that, I think skis or snowshoes are the way to go.

You may recognize the location of these photos, as the bend in the Crystal River below Chair Mountain is one of my favorite places to shoot any time of year.  We had a one-day break in the winter storms, and I went out yesterday morning to capture many images.
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