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.

Lyle Lake and Mormon Lake

Sometimes I'm reluctant to write about hikes that are so great I fear they'll become popular through my blog, and we won't be able to enjoy the near-monopoly we have when we're hiking there.  Even during the peak months of summer, hikes out of the Frying Pan river valley into the Holy Cross wilderness area are never as crowded as those one finds near Aspen.  Ours was the ninth vehicle at the trailhead on Sunday, and yet we only occasionally encountered other hikers (most on the way down from overnight camping there).  Once at the lakes, we had them all to ourselves.

Unlike my past visits, the mosquitoes were out in force this time.  The only bothered me when the breeze died down and we stood still for any length of time.  My girlfriend, however, was nearly eaten alive.  She had about thirty bites on her arms and shoulders, and was rather miserable.  Despite that, she was able to appreciate the hike and called it the most beautiful she had ever seen.

Lyle Creek, just below Lyle Lake

Lyle Lake lunch break

lyle lake, holy cross, wilderness area, colorado, hike
Lyle Lake on the trail up to Mormon Lake

pond and view above Mormon Lake

lyle lake, holy cross, wilderness area, colorado
Lyle Lake from the saddle