Colorado Makes the Grade as a Hiking State, Duh.
Our recent visit to Colorado confirmed to us what we essentially already knew – that the Centennial State is a kick-ass place for hiking.
Therefore we have done the needful and added the Colorado Rocky Mountains as a Reserve BucketList destinations. This is a long overdue move.
There is still no one destination in Colorado that is currently on our Bucket List – the Maroon Bells/Four Passes Loop probably comes closest, or perhaps a section of the Colorado Trail – but eventually one will work its way on there as other items go into the DONE bucket.
Even so, we think we’ll be back to Colorado much sooner than we’ll get to most of the places covered by our Bucket List. The reason is simple…accessibility. Colorado is probably the easiest of the Bucket List destinations for us to reach, with tons of great hiking within 2-3 hours of Denver International Airport, which itself is only a single four hour nonstop flight away.
Compare this to the logistical hurdles we’ll have to overcome to reach Patagonia in just five weeks time.
The Rockies, all things considered, could be the best all-around mountain range in the world for hiking. There is just an enormous range of options here. It is equally rugged and beautiful as the Alps or Pyrenees, yet less despoiled by human development; and while the Andes and Himalaya may be bigger, these ranges have serious accessibility and safety concerns. All things considered, its hard to argue against the Rockies.
We have divided the range into three outstanding Bucket List Regions…the southern section which is dominated by Colorado; a central (or Northern US) section which we term Big Sky Country; and a northern or Canadian section. All of these are outstanding, but the conventional wisdom is the Rockies get better as they march north.
Check out our home pages for any of these. And, if you have not by now, check out the Rockies. They’re out there and waiting for you.
Montana photo (Grinnell Glacier) by – Own work
Canadian Rockies Photo by Jakub Fryš – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78702629