camping/hiking (Denver, Pagosa Springs, Crested Butte: home, activities, best place)

[stan4]

I know there must be a million places in Colorado that are great for hiking, but I wanted to know if anyone could give us their opinion on the best place for camping, hiking, and water scenery/fishing?

We would want to be more in the wild and not so much in a resort or town-type area.

Looking to go early July.

Somewhere suitable for just us and the packs on our backs.

Thank you.

[80skeys]

My favorite is the San Juan mountains in southern Colorado. Big mountains, lots of untamed areas. Stunning, beautiful. Lots of great camping and backpacking.

In particular, the Weminuche wildnerness which covers a vast area including parts of the colorado trail and the continental divide trail, and which can be accessed from many locations. The birthplace of the Rio Grande river is in the heart of this wilderness.

One really nice place to access the Weminuche is along the highway from Pagosa Springs to Wolf Creek pass. There are places to camp and to hike or backpack into the wildnerness.

The San Juans are particularly beautiful because in the spring and summer there are many natural waterfalls all over cascading down from the high peaks. They get a lot of water, so they are more green than other areas of colorado.

The san Juans are a large mountain range, all the way from Pagosa Springs in the southeast corner to South Fork on the east and durango and ouray on the west.

Grab a copy of the Wemiche Wilderness topo map. If I remember, when I go home for lunch today I'll look at my copy and write down the map details (manufacturer, etc.) and post it here.

Originally Posted by stan4

I know there must be a million places in Colorado that are great for hiking, but I wanted to know if anyone could give us their opinion on the best place for camping, hiking, and water scenery/fishing?

We would want to be more in the wild and not so much in a resort or town-type area.

Looking to go early July.

Somewhere suitable for just us and the packs on our backs.

Thank you.

[80skeys]

National Geographic #140 Weminuche Wilderness Outdoor Recreation Map.

[reginhild]

Check out Backpacker magazine, or their website. The highest concentration of Backpacker magazine subscribers is in the Denver/Frontrange area.

There are lots of hikes with camping spots listed for the Front Range including GPS and other route info. Almost all of these hikes are more wilderness away from any cities. Some are multiple day overnight hikes - if you just want a single overnight hike to the first campspot and reverse out after the first night...or hike the route backwards to the last campsite. Do fully read the hike information - some routes require climbing gear to get past certain points.

[SheridanL]

Maroon Bells is really nice!! Tons of hiking areas!! Breathtaking!!

[CosmicWizard]

Hiking along the Oh Be Joyful Trail is a rather spectacular hike. The trailhead is just a few miles from downtown Crested Butte.

Check out this photo by Andy Cook

[watcher66]

The Colorado trail might be an option for you. Lots of this trail are a decently long ways from towns. Here is the link for the site The Colorado Trail Home Page