Outdoor Project

This is the main route up the First Flatiron, and it may be the single most popular multi-pitch trad route in the Boulder area. Despite the lack of novelty, it is no doubt a classic climb that deserves every bit of the traffic that it gets. It is located just outside Boulder in the ever-crowded Chautauqua Park. It's worth fighting the crowds, though, to scale the titanic slabs that feel like granite but are actually a kind of condensed sandstone.

A fortress of rocky cliffs has protected the trees in Crabtree Valley from fire, wind, and logging for many centuries. This remote pocket of old-growth surrounds Crabtree Lake, an excellent destination for a wanderer seeking to spend time in quiet, old-growth forest.

It is hard not to say a lot of great things about the Storm Mountain Day Use Area. It is located only a few miles up the canyon, but still makes you feel like you are far into the mountains. There are many great things to do here, but unfortunately overnight camping is not one of them. Fishing in Big Cottonwood Creek is popular, and there is terrific rock climbing in almost all directions (visitors can literally find dozens of routes). There is a short hike with great views up and down canyon.

Lily Pad Lake is a wonderful destination near the town of Silverthorne that can be reached after a short hike. Most people, especially families with small children, hike to the lake from the Lily Pad Lake Trailhead, which is a 2.5-mile hike with barely 100 feet of elevation gain. An alternative way to the lake is to take the Salt Lick Trail until it joins the Lily Pad Lake Trail just a quarter mile from the lake. The big advantages to this route are the relative lack of crowds and the beautiful open views along the way.

The Comstock Mining Loop is a technical trail that passes several mining ruins and historical sites significant to the Comstock Lode silver strike in the mountains near Virginia City, Nevada.

The trail follows mountainous double track for a 4.5-mile course, making it a good outing for hikers of moderate ability and technical trail runners who desire a variety of ascents and descents along their path.

There are several national forest campgrounds around Dillon Reservoir, and all are pretty nice. Prospector is located high above the lake and is the furthest campground from town, which can be a pro or con depending on one's perspective. The campground was clear-cut about ten years ago to remove beetle-damaged trees, so it has a very open feeling and fantastic views of the surrounding mountains. Overall it is a very pleasant campground due to the space between sites.

Alpine Lake is nestled against 2,000-foot granite ridges in the southwestern section of the Trinity Alps Wilderness. From the ridge to the southwest rises 8,031-foot Little Granite Peak. The outflow of Alpine Lake cascades through granite boulders until it combines with Stuart Fork Creek and eventually Trinity Lake.

The hike to Kings Creek Falls can be completed along two different trails: the Cascades Trail and the horse loop. The Cascade Trail follows a steep descent through boulders and down rocky steps but offers close views of the cascades. The horse loop is slightly longer and less steep but has great views of the park. Perhaps take one trail down and the other on the way back to make a well rounded trip.

The rock art at the mouth of Moonflower Canyon is one of the most easily viewable petroglyph panels near Moab. The figures etched into stone are thought to be about 2,000 years old. One of the drawings resembles an even older style of Native American expression known as the Barrier Canyon Style.

Situated at the west end of the North Shore Mountains where the Howe Sound meets the Burrard Inlet is a 185-acre park that hosts stunning scenery and miles of trails that wind through an ancient forest.