The Beaver Creek Wilderness Study Area covers 40,000 acres of uninhabited, road-free wild country. According to the Central Colorado Wilderness Coalition, “bighorn sheep and elk find winter and summer...

Hwy 50 from Colorado Springs (Cos) to Sacramento is one of the most beautiful roads in America. Well maintained and helpfully annotated, I'd suggest taking several days (or several return trips) to do...

Rising 800 ft above the 4 Mile Creek valley floor, Dome Rock is the quintessential Colorado destination. Adjacent to Meuller State Park, just south of Divide and north of Cripple Creek, you can hike...

This is a beautiful section of the “Ring the Peak” trail system. The distance from Horsethief Falls trailhead to Putney Gulch trailhead is 4 miles. You can begin at either end; both are easily...

The GPS file for this guide represents the hike. However, the drive to the trailhead is as important to your enjoyment of the adventure as the hike itself. So plan for a drive time of at least and...

The Waldo Canyon Loop hike is one of the most popular hikes in the Colorado Springs area. Accordingly, you’ll find a large parking area at the trailhead. Even with all the space available, you may...

I met a lady along the trail who was, like me, enjoying this hike for the very first time. Unlike me, who has only lived here a year, she was a 30-something native who’d “just never been up here...

Sometimes granite erodes horizontally into monumental slabs resembling stacks of gigantic red pancakes (see my guide for Horsethief Falls & Pancake Rocks). Not too far away the same kind or rock...

Picture the “wall” of the side of a chocolate layer cake. Imagine making one knife cut down through that wall. Pull out your imaginary knife (so you won’t get hurt) and gaze into the slit you’ve...

The headwaters of Cherry Creek lie in the low hill country about 35 miles south of Denver. The creek is an important source of water for the farms and ranches between Castlerock and Denver, and...

Just east of the Rampart Range section of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains the plains limestone buttes rise randomly across the plains. One of the largest of these rocky islands is Spruce...

Old Gold Camp Road leads to many of the hiking treasures of Colorado Springs. One of my favorites is the trek from High Rd via Cap’n Jacks trail, over the ridge between Mt Kineo and Mt Buckhorn, down...

Palmer Park is one of the largest park/open spaces in the city of Colorado Springs. It contains excellent facilities: dog park, horse stable, riding trails, picnic areas, and for our purposes, hiking...

The Garden of the God’s really deserves more than one guide. This one takes you on a walk around the main section of the formations that constitute the Garden of the Gods as most people experience it....

Helen Hunt Falls — named after Helen Hunt Jackson, author and social activist in the late 19th century — marks the abrupt descent of Cheyenne Creek where North Cheyenne Canyon Rd merges with Gold Camp...

One day, this trail will stretch all the way through Colorado from Wyoming to New Mexico. When that happens, it will be called the Colorado Front Range Trail. It will be epic. For now, though, enjoy a...

One of the easiest ways to experience many different pieces of terrain is to trek through a “loop hike.” This particular loop hike lives up to expectations. Behind the Air Force Academy is a 9300 ft...

The Garden of the Gods is world famous, but two miles south of the Garden “Red Rock Canyon Open Space” invites hikers to enjoy the same geological strata in a much less “Victorian” setting. The land...

One of three trails in the area known as the "Gulches." The other two trails, Longwater and Hackett are only partially opened at this time. Metberry is the only trail open all the way to the river....

In the southwest corner of the Garden of the Gods park you’ll find a small, almost hidden trailhead. The interlocking trails from this location offer an easy 2.5 mile meander through the rock strewn...

Here is a leisurely family hike you can do in a morning or afternoon. The hike is only 2 miles in length. Mt Cutler — named after Henry Cutler, one of General Palmer’s friends and a supporter of...