Best Hikes in Colorado

Colorado hiking earns its world-class reputation because the state offers so many distinct versions of mountain travel — short alpine lake trails, national park classics, serious fourteener summit routes, and long high-country traverses — with altitude and afternoon weather the main variables to respect.

Longs Peak

Longs Peak represents the upper end of day-hike ambition in the Front Range, its Keyhole Route demanding an early alpine start to avoid the mountain's notorious afternoon lightning storms — one of the most serious objectives most Colorado hikers will ever attempt.

Sky Pond

In Rocky Mountain National Park, the hike to Sky Pond builds scenery gradually — forest, then a series of lakes and waterfalls, finishing at a dramatic alpine cirque — making it one of the most complete single-day hikes in the state.

Grays and Torreys Peaks

Grays and Torreys give many hikers their first fourteener experience, their relative accessibility from the Front Range helping explain why Colorado's summit-bagging culture runs as deep as it does.

Hanging Lake

When permit access allows, Hanging Lake remains one of the state's most iconic short hikes, its strikingly turquoise, travertine-dammed lake and cliffside waterfall setting justifying the strict visitor limits designed to protect it.

Chicago Basin

Deep in the San Juans, Chicago Basin is reachable only by a long backpacking approach or, more famously, by riding the historic Durango & Silverton narrow-gauge train partway and hiking in from the tracks — a genuinely unusual approach that gives access to a cluster of remote fourteeners few casual hikers ever reach.

Ice Lake Basin

In the San Juans, Ice Lake Basin is often treated as the postcard summer alpine hike — vividly blue water, dense wildflower meadows, and towering mountain walls combining into one of the most photographed trails in the state.

Why Colorado Hiking Rewards Respect

Afternoon storms, lingering snow, and sheer altitude can turn a modest-looking trail into something genuinely serious — but that seriousness is also the appeal, since Colorado hikes so often lead into real alpine terrain rather than just a scenic overlook.