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.

Shrine Mountain and Shrine Ridge


A few miles southeast of Vail, Colorado, and a short distance off of I-70, is Shrine Mountain and Shrine Ridge.  Because of it's proximity to the main tourist corridor, it's a very popular hike.

The photo above is the namesake feature as seen from the top of the trail.  It's a relatively easy hike through fields of wildflowers, and the ridge offers long views in all directions.