With so many amazing waterfall hikes in Colorado, it’s tough to choose a favorite. But when Backpacker magazine asked me to name a few, I did my best!
Read my full story on Backpacker.com: Best Waterfall Hikes in Colorado
When Backpacker magazine asked me for details about the best summit hikes in Colorado Springs, I happily obliged!
Read my full story on Backpacker.com: Best Summit Hikes in Colorado Springs
Climbing Pikes Peak (14,115‘) is a big day no matter which trail you take. Most people do the classic Barr Trail route from Manitou Springs (about 26 miles roundtrip), or the shorter Crags route from Divide (about 13 miles).
I’ve done it both ways (once on Barr and six times via the Crags), and also hiked it from Gillet on the old Gillet Trail (shorter than Barr Trail and less steep than the Crags route). In 2006, as part of the Zebulon Pike Bicentennial Climb, I did it over three days and 26 miles one way, starting in southeast Colorado Springs and climbing over several other mountains along the way, presumably following Pike’s 1806 path.
If you want to skip the long hike up America’s Mountain, you can drive to the top on the paved Pikes Peak Highway. The new summit house is open, complete with gift shop, cafe, and exhibits, and the wraparound viewing decks are complete. All you need from late-May through the end of September is a permit. A few miles up the road, you’ll hit the entrance station, where you have to pay another $15 per adult, less for kids.
Last week, I decided to take the easy route up Pikes Peak. I drove. To make the most of my day (and my money), I added a few easy hikes to the trip: four unranked summits off the highway on the west side of the peak. I’d done two of them before, but two others were new to me. I’d discovered them in Stewart M. Green’s book Climbing Pikes Peak: A Hiker’s Guide to the Peak.
I’ll give you a summary of the directions. If you want more details, pick up the book. It has other hikes including more summit hikes too, plus a bunch of route descriptions to the top of Pikes Peak.
Spencer’s Rest (12,939′) and Bob Ormes Points (13,119′) Unranked
This hike starts on the north side of the Pikes Peak Highway between mile markers 17 and 18. If you’re driving up the road, it’s the pullout on the left just below “Little Pikes Peak.” After you cross the road, look for the faint Gillett Trail. I’d been on the trail a couple of times: in 2005, when I hiked to the summit of Pikes from Gillett, and in 2013, to climb “McReynolds Peak.” Seldom used except by peakbaggers trying to finish all the ranked summits in Teller County (McReynolds), the trail is overgrown but it’s there. If you lose it, step on rocks and slabs to avoid damaging mountain tundra until you locate it again. Spencer’s Rest is west-southwest of the pullout.
Next, descend the peak and hike east to the northernmost highpoint of a long ridge of summits, Bob Ormes Points. Alternatively, you can start at the southernmost point and hike the ridge to the highest point.
The whole hike is short, less than three miles, and with less than 1,000 feet of elevation gain you can do both Spencer’s Rest and Bob Ormes Points and be back to you car in an hour. You’ll want to linger on the summits, though – the views are stupendous!
“Little Pikes Peak” (13,363′) Unranked
Back at your car, you can either do “Little Pikes Peak,” located near the pullout, or drive to the summit for doughnuts and more views, like I did. On the way back down the highway, park at the same pullout (between mile markers 17 and 18, this time on the right side of the road). “Little Pikes Peak” is the obvious rocky summit west of the pullout. I hadn’t done this hike since 2008 and it hadn’t changed: still short, still steep, and still bouldery on top. Again, avoid the tundra and look for rocks and slabs for your footing.
Next, continue driving down the road for another 1.6 miles to the Devils Playground parking lot on the left side of the road.
“Devils Playground Peak” (13,070′) Unranked
If you’ve ever climbed Pikes Peak from the Crags Trailhead in Divide, you know that the Devils Playground parking lot is where you leave the trail and cross the Pikes Peak Highway for the final 2.6 miles to the summit. County highpointers know it as where to park to get the highpoint of Teller County, “Devils Playground Peak.” This little summit used to be a bit of a scramble, but now there’s a trail. I’ve done it three times – in 2008, 2012, and last week – and for some reason, I failed to take a photo on any of those hikes. The peak is hard to miss – it’s the obvious bump on the west edge of the lot. There’s a trail.
There you have it. Four easy summits and a lovely drive to the top of America’s Mountain. Not a bad day!
We found three alpine lakes and four gushing waterfalls that offer refreshing, cool fun for the whole family, including those using strollers or wheelchairs.
Read my full story on 5280.com: Wheelchair- and Stroller-Friendly Waterfalls & Alpine Lakes in Colorado
Enjoy the views, minus the exertion, on these five easy hikes, all 1.2 to 2.8 miles long and within about two hours of Denver.
Read my full story on 5280.com: 5 Short, Easy Hikes Near Denver
Adventurer Quinn Brett, who is paralyzed from the waist down, thinks Colorado can do better when it comes to adaptive sports and recreational opportunities—and she’s helping to make that happen.
Read my full story on 5280.com: Estes Park’s Quinn Brett Is a Champion for Adaptive Sports and Backcountry Access
Getting into the backcountry can be hard work, but not every adventure requires extreme exertion. We found six fun and easy ways to enjoy Colorado’s great outdoors without lifting a finger—or pulling a muscle.
Read my full story on 5280.com: Trains, Pontoons & Hot Air Balloons: Hitch a Ride to Colorado’s Backcountry
From soaking facilities with ADA-compliant lifts to pools with ramps, handrails, and benches, we found a soothing Colorado hot springs experience for nearly every ability and mobility.
Read my full story on 5280.com: 4 ADA-Compliant Colorado Hot Springs
From 14,000-foot mountaintops to roadside pulloffs and a lofty memorial site, passenger cars will have no trouble reaching these five scenic overlooks located within about two hours of Denver, from Rocky Mountain National Park to Pueblo.
Read my full story on 5280.com: 5 Scenic Overlooks in Colorado You Can Reach in Your Prius
When I moved to Colorado Springs twenty-five years ago, I didn’t get a chance to see much of the city. Settling my two kids, then 11 and 4, into a new apartment, new school, and new daycare – while I figured out my new job as a Unix systems administrator at a high-tech firm – took all my time and focus. I was also a full-time college student (yes, working single moms have an unbelievable reserve of energy and resolve).
For the cross-country drive, I strapped my kids and computer into the Camry, arriving just ahead of a blizzard. The semitruck carrying the household goods got stranded on a mountain pass, and it would be days before any of that stuff made it to the apartment. With no furniture, I set up my computer on the living room floor and logged in to find that one of my college groupmates had dropped the ball on a team project, so I stayed up late to do his part and turn the paper in. With several feet of fresh snow on the ground, I couldn’t even make it out of the driveway for my first day of work, so that morning my new boss and her husband picked me up in their Subaru.
This is my long way of telling you that I had more on my mind than visiting all the sights of this fair city, Colorado Springs, and the state of Colorado back then. But the next year I vowed to see it all. That August, I took a week off from work and the kids and I went everywhere. We rode the cog railway to the summit of Pikes Peak, took the Lantern Tour at Cave of the Winds, walked the bridge over the Royal Gorge and rode every ride in the park. We did Elitch Gardens – the rides and the water park – hit the fine art and science museums and spent a day at the Downtown Aquarium. It was a crazy, hectic week, but my kids loved it. And I finally got to see a little more of Colorado beyond my cubicle and computer screen.
Since then, I’ve seen much more. I credit hiking and mountaineering for that. Doing all the 14ers (mountains over 14,000 feet above sea level) and county highpoints gets you out of the office and all over the state. Then I visited 47 hot springs, hiked to more than 100 lakes and more than 150 waterfalls, and summited over 700 mountaintops, and I’m still out there, camping, hiking, and climbing every week.
I always remind myself not to take this for granted. Don’t think everyone lives like this. Not everyone wakes up to a day like today, with blue skies, puffy white clouds, sparkling snow on America’s Mountain, and endless possibilities. I tell myself: “Enjoy this day, every minute of it, and don’t take it for granted. Somehow (don’t ask me how), you got really, really lucky, Susan.”
But no matter how many times I tell myself this, I do get used to it. I’ve camped and hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park so many times – three long weekends this year alone – I’ve lost count. Hiked every trail and climbed most of the rock formations in Garden of the Gods. And hit the trail to the summit of Pikes Peak nine times from four different routes – one time in snowshoes, in January. After a while, the beauty of this place fails to register. It’s as if I’m taking it in with all of my senses, but my brain doesn’t get it. My brain doesn’t say “Wow, this is amazing.”
Last fall, my sister, Carolyn, and her husband Andy came to visit. I hadn’t seen family in years, so it was quite a treat! They were doing a three-week cross-country loop, and only had one day to spend in Rocky Mountain National Park, and one day in Colorado Springs. Of course, I put together itineraries for them. I went online and got tickets to visit the new summit house on Pikes Peak. I got tickets to the new US Olympic and Paralympic Museum too. I found a doggy daycare for their pup, a nice dog-friendly trail in Garden of the Gods, and a restaurant that was both vegan-friendly (for me) and dog-friendly (for them).
It was a great day. Perfect, in fact. If you haven’t been to the summit house on Pikes Peak or the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum, I can’t recommend them enough. If you can, get weekday tickets and avoid the crowds. We did the peak on a Monday morning at 8 a.m. and stopped by the Devils Playground parking lot on the way down. There’s a trail there now to the top of Devils Playground Peak, the highpoint of Teller County. After lunch downtown, we hit the museum. My brother-in-law’s words as we entered the top floor sum up the experience: “I’m going to need a lot of time in here.” I agree. We spent two hours and could have easily spent three. It’s not your typical museum.
After picking up their pup for a walk around the Garden and watching the sun go down from the rocky ridge between Keyhole and Easter Rocks, we headed to Trinity Brewing. At an outdoor table, we dined on pizza and beer, and watched a lightning storm over the mountains to the west. They were leaving that night, headed out of town again, so I wanted to know how their trip had been.
“So, how was Rocky Mountain National Park,” I asked, “Did you enjoy the hikes and the waterfalls?”
“Um, we drove up Old Fall River Road and down Trail Ridge Road,” my sister said.
“And, where else?”
“That was it.”
I wondered whether they had the dog with them, because pets aren’t allowed on park trails, but no, they said, they had boarded him in Fort Collins that morning.
“You spent seven hours in Rocky Mountain National Park, and that’s all you did? How is that possible?” I thought about my weekends in the park and all the hikes I’d crammed in – Deer Mountain, Mount Ida, Flattop Mountain, Hallett Peak…not to mention all the lakes and waterfalls.
My sister smiled and told me about all the sights along the roadways. Just the views from the pullouts.
“We had to keep stopping. Everything was so beautiful.”
Ah, yeah. There it was. Everything is so beautiful. And sometimes just getting away from my computer to see it isn’t enough. Sometimes I need to see it through someone else’s eyes, someone who’s never seen it before, to be reminded of that. Maybe I need to retrain my eyes, my nose, my ears…my brain, too. Because we are very, very lucky to live here and I never want to take it for granted.
This blog first appeared as a column in the October 26, 2021, Gazette North Springs Edition.
Susan Joy Paul 