We challenged our writers and a handful of local experts to name the Centennial State’s finest locales—down to a few square feet. What we got wasn’t just a travel guide. It was a love letter to Colorado.

Below, 14 slices of perfection.

5280 August 2024
5280 August 2024
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Jump Ahead:

1. Best Campsite

  • Beta: Campsite 12, Crater Lake, Indian Peaks Wilderness
  • Expert: Maren Horjus, 5280 digital director

I’m suddenly nervous. All that separates my hiking partner and me from the view I’ve raved about for months is a thin swath of nylon. My refrain—It’s just like the Italian Dolomites, but without the espresso bar—is getting old, and I’m worried the spectacle won’t live up to my hype.

Rachel and I have been backpacking buddies for years, and lately, she’s been helping me research slices of backcountry bliss for a guidebook I’m writing. We’ve pitched tents amid some of the country’s grandest scenery, including Zion National Park and California’s Lost Coast. Nothing against those pretty places, but you don’t wake up in the goods like you do at Crater Lake’s campsite 12. The same can’t be said for many of the Indian Peaks Wilderness’ other bivouacs, which are usually relegated to pine groves far from any water. Campsite 12, on the other hand, offers an unbroken vista of the pool we’ve trekked seven miles to savor.

We set up by headlamp last night, so to heighten the drama, I wait for the sun to fully reveal itself. Then I unzip the door. Lone Eagle Peak dominates the scene. Not even 12,000 feet tall, the conical mountain may be short by Colorado standards, but from this low vantage, the snow-smeared summits behind it fan out like a kingly retinue. Crater Lake’s surface is so still that I’m treated to a pair of peaks as I tiptoe to the shore to collect water for coffee. Rachel is still in her sleeping bag looking out the tent flap, mouth agape. Only a hot cup of instant espresso could improve the view. —MH

Read More: The 4 Best Backpacking Trips in the Indian Peaks 

2. Best Half-Mile Run

Photo by Eric Santin/Getty Images

Bird-running is oxymoronic. Running asks us to go fast. Birding requires us to slow down, to be still. When I turn my head skyward while pounding the pavement, however, I ease up just enough to see the patches of color beneath the birds’ wings with my naked eyes. Like these fowl, I am in motion. I do this obscure activity in a surprisingly mundane place—the half-mile stretch of suburban greenbelt along Arvada’s Little Dry Creek Trail that connects Pomona Lake 2 to Wood Run Park.

I chase a belted kingfisher around a small lake. It flies from cottonwood to cottonwood, dodging my gaze, but its mohawk and rusty chest are unmistakable. Flickers dart above me while a turtle suns itself on a log in the lake, and when I run up on the blue jays fluttering among a grove of pines, they don’t mind me. Their calls are louder than the drum of my feet. I carry on, amassing miles, knowing that when I return through this stretch of trail, there will be new sightings I’ll file away to delight in later. —MR

3. Best Backcountry Ski Turn

Photo by Cavan Images/Alamy Stock Photo
  • Beta: San Juan Mountains, near Silverton
  • Expert: Aaron Rice, avalanche educator

Aaron Rice knows snow. Not only is he a lead instructor at Silverton Avalanche School and an American Mountain Guides Association apprentice ski guide, but the 35-year-old also studied snow science at the University of Colorado Boulder. Plus, he hasn’t missed a ski season since he was three.

So when he put his mind to designating the best single backcountry ski turn within the state’s rectangular borders, it’s no surprise he took a methodical approach. “I’ve heard it said that there are three kinds of skiers,” he says. “Folks who ski for the feeling of it, folks who ski for the challenge of it, and folks who ski for the aesthetic.” Using those three elements (plus accessibility) as his criteria, Rice settled on a run just outside of Silverton to the west of U.S. 550, near the OPUS hut. “I’m going to be a little bit cagey here,” he says of the exact location. “You’re standing on an unnamed peak, and you get this vista that covers Bear Mountain, Sultan Mountain, and Grand Turks sweeping all the way down into the depths of the Weminuche Wilderness. It’s all right there. You don’t even have to turn your head.”

To pick a specific turn, however, Rice abandoned challenge and aesthetic and focused on feeling. “It’s that sense of tipping in, of transition that drives the exhilaration we search for when we ski,” he says. “So on the right day—with that view—it’s the first turn off the top.” —Nicholas Hunt

4. Best Lunch Break Spot on a Trail

Photo by Alicia Marie Travels
  • Beta: Blue Lake, Crested Butte
  • Expert: Erin Berger, 5280 contributor

At the turnaround point for this 13.2-mile out-and-back near Crested Butte that combines the Oh-Be-Joyful, Daisy Pass, and Blue Lake trails, you’ll find a conveniently placed rock slab. Sharp-cornered and layered like a biscuit, the granite perch juts out over Blue Lake from a thicket of squat pines. Its perfectly smooth top, dotted with orange and green lichen, accommodates precisely two humans and a heeler-chihuahua mix. But it’s not just the view I love.

This rock is a miracle of acoustics. From a quarter mile away, approaching hikers’ conversations skim over the lake, somehow redirected to this all-hearing throne by the natural amphitheater formed by Purple and Afley peaks. I’ve spent hours here failing to read my book and instead listening to daytrippers chatting with their dogs, trail runners tackling the 2,100-foot ascent, and a man proselytizing the gospel of cold plunging to his friends. I’d come here seeking seclusion. Instead, I found something even better: solitude while in the company of others. —EB

Read More: Colorado’s 6 Most Action-Packed Mountain Ranges

5. Best Section of Rock Climbing

Photo by Aaron Colussi
  • Beta: Grand Ol’ Opry, Estes Park Valley
  • Expert: Aaron Colussi, 5280 contributor

When you see Grand Ol’ Opry for the first time, you’re like, Holy crap, how does that rock even exist? It’s not just that it’s huge. It’s freestanding and slightly overhanging, and even though it’s a single, 70-foot-tall pitch, there are no easy moves the whole way up. I’m not strong enough to climb it, but then again, few are. Estes Park local Tommy Caldwell, whom you may know from the documentaries The Dawn Wall and Alex Honnold’s Free Solo, made the first ascent in 1998, and for a long time, Grand Ol’ Opry was the most difficult route along the Front Range at 5.14b.

I’m not sure if others have surpassed it, but it’s still the most scenic route, with views of Longs Peak and Rocky Mountain National Park in the distance. When I photograph climbers on it, there are no bad shots, and it’s inspiring to watch others send it. Luckily, there are relatively easier routes nearby (such as 5.10d Tabula Rasa) that are perfect for doing just that while you take a break from your own ascent. “Relative” being the key word. —AC

6. Best Section of Trail Running

Photo by Sarah Banks
  • Beta: Jones Pass, Empire
  • Expert: Sarah Banks, 5280 deputy photo editor

My runners’ group text explodes in late June with a simple question: “Is Jones Pass good to go?” The singletrack in question is a stretch of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) accessed via an unassuming 1.4-mile spur trail near the Henderson Mine. The copious columbines, pines, and rushing creeks along this stretch of the CDT would be enough to earn it a spot in Colorado’s pantheon of trail running routes, but they’re not the reason my phone starts buzzing. That’s still ahead, after the route gains another 1,000 feet of elevation in around a mile.

The masochist in me enjoys the 20-degree uphill grind, but once my altimeter logs 12,000 feet, my footfalls slow. For the next quarter-mile or so, I am a peer among the peaks. Optical illusions suggest I could reach out and touch the summits rising to the west. The trail continues northeast up 12,530-foot Stanley Mountain and follows the spine of the divide in an unending flow. It’s here that I’ll fall into a leisurely pace, content to linger until the afternoon storm clouds roll in. —SB

Read More: The Beginner’s Guide to Trail Running in Colorado

7. Best Fly-Fishing Spot

Photo courtesy of Davis James
  • Beta: Antero Reservoir, South Park
  • Expert: Davis James, Orvis

For Davis James, a former fly-fishing guide and current marketing manager for gear giant Orvis, the prime place to cast a line is the South Platte River’s Antero Reservoir. It’s a handsome locale with crystalline water that reflects the weighty Collegiate Peaks in the distance, but at 2,300 acres, it’s impossible for James to pick one bit of bank. Instead, he used another factor to whittle things down: time.

As summer approaches, say around mid-May, the reservoir’s browns and rainbows move from the depths to Antero’s shoreline and weed beds to feed, bringing them within reach of even the most novice fish hunter. “This time window can be short, depending on how quickly the ambient temperature picks up,” James says. Once the water warms enough, the trout—which can exceed 10 pounds thanks, in part, to a protein-rich diet of damselflies, bait fish, Callibaetis mayflies, and leeches—spend more time in deeper water. “It pays to have a flexible schedule and a habit of visiting your local fly shop regularly,” James says. “Information flows from staffers even faster when you walk in with a 12-pack of their favorite beverage.” —NH

Read More: The Beginner’s Guide To Fly-Fishing in Colorado

8. Best Spot to Watch the Sunset

Photo courtesy of Jay Bouchard
  • Beta: Huston Lake Park, Denver
  • Expert: Jay Bouchard, 5280 contributor

Finding a quality sunset in the Mile High City is about as difficult as finding a mustache at a craft brewery. But as with whiskers, not all sunsets are created equal. Yes, Sloan’s Lake and Washington Park are gorgeous venues for watching the sun make its daily dip behind the peaks, but you know who else knows that? Everyone. Instead, head to Huston Lake Park, a lesser-known, 34-acre green space tucked away in Denver’s Athmar Park neighborhood.

Leave your car on South Vallejo Street at the east end of the lake and walk through the field to a cluster of trees obscuring a broad but inconspicuous peninsula. When the sun melts into the mountains, the cottonwoods at your back will begin to glow and the water, which wraps around you in a 200-degree arc, will shimmer, leaving you with the distinct feeling that you’re not just watching a sunset. You’re inside a sunset. Don’t believe me? Just ask my wife, whom I proposed to on this very site. Clearly blinded by the beauty that surrounded us, she said, “Yes.” —JB

Read More: 4 of the Best Birdwatching Sites in Denver

9. Best Section of Scrambling

Photo by Bergreen Photography
  • Beta: Kelso Ridge, Torreys Peak
  • Expert: Marc Bergreen, photographer

Marc Bergreen likes Grays and Torreys peaks for lots of reasons. As with all fourteeners, the sibling mountains offer expansive views, and the summer trailhead is about an hour from Denver—close enough that he and his wife, Brenda, a fellow adventure photographer, can drop the kids off at school, summit, and be back in town before the final bell rings. But you won’t find the reason Bergreen loves these pinnacles on the 8.25-mile standard route.

Instead, Bergreen prefers the Class 3 scramble up Kelso Ridge to Torreys Peak. “I’m more of a rock climber,” he says, “so it’s fun for me to do something that has a little bit of exposure.” The ridge offers plenty of that. “It gets progressively steeper,” Bergreen says, “but there are areas where you can drop down to one side or the other to reduce your level of exposure or commitment.” That is, until you reach the knife’s edge, where for 50 or so feet, you have to walk along the blade. Luckily, in a state known for inferior rock that can crumble, the stone here is solid, making for a safer ascent. “Still,” he says, “it’s a lot more exciting than a traditional walk up the trail with tourists from Texas.” —NH

10. Best Powder-Skiing Stash

Aspen Highland Bowl. Photo by Jeremy Swanson, courtesy of Aspen Skiing Company
  • Beta: Ozone, Aspen Highlands Ski Resort, Aspen
  • Expert: Kelly Manley, 5280 contributor

I spent much of my early adulthood scouring skiing’s holy places for powder lines. There are the silky, post-storm turns on Valluga’s north face in St. Anton, Austria, and the plunge midway down La Voute couloir in La Grave, France, where skiers drop into a silent snow vortex. But in my early 30s, after I’d scratched the itch for exotic ski locales but was still hungry for snowy, high-alpine descents, I finally hoofed it up Aspen Skiing Company’s Highland Bowl and discovered a big-mountain pitch that serves up some of the best steep resort skiing in Colorado—and maybe even the Lower 48.

From the top of Loge Peak lift, a 45-minute bootpack delivers you to Ozone, one of the bowl’s 18 or so designated lines. The run is a direct shot off 12,392-foot Highland Peak, from where you can see the Maroon Bells to the south and Red Mountain to the north. Click your poles together under the fluttering prayer flags and slide into the 270-acre arena. While there’s 2,500 vertical feet of prime skiing here, it’s the mid-section of Ozone—500 feet of sustained fall-line skiing—that’s ideal for flowing powder turns. At a 40-degree pitch, gravity coaxes your legs into an effortless rhythm, your speed slowed by the six to 18 inches of low-density snow that can blanket the upper elevations of the Elk Mountains.

And unlike Valluga or La Voute, Highland Bowl is bombed for avalanches, so there’s all the fun and little of the risk. As you descend, the valley spreads out before you. It’s all sky and snow and the hiss of skis, and you might, for a moment, experience the sensation of flying. —KM

11. Best Disc Golf Hole

Photo by Anya Semenoff, the Denver Post via Getty Images
  • Beta: Beaver Ranch Disc Golf Course, Conifer
  • Expert: Jessica LaRusso, 5280 deputy editor

I am not a good disc golfer. The beauty of Colorado’s mountain courses, though, is that they’re really just hikes enhanced by the opportunity to throw specialized discs at metal baskets. Because of that, even I can appreciate the appeal of Hole 8 at Beaver Ranch Disc Golf Course in Conifer. The tee pad sits 375 feet across a wide-open valley from the silver (read: closest) pin. I can’t drive that far yet, but as I take in the scene—verdant grass dotted with white wildflowers, a meandering red dirt path to the target’s hillside perch, evergreens lining the fairway, cobalt blue skies—I like to pretend I can. I envision my disc soaring from my hand in a perfect S curve. I hear the rattle of chains echoing as the flying saucer finds its mark.

I feel the high-fives from my companions, who will sign my ace disc once I’ve retrieved it. The lack of trees to bend shots around, the thinner air at 8,000 feet, and the tee pad’s elevated position make me feel like anything is possible. Until I get that kind of distance, however, I’ll continue enjoying the view—and trying to land my approach shots softly enough that they don’t roll back down into the valley. —JL

Read More: The Beginner’s Guide to Disc Golf in Denver

12. Best View of the Milky Way

Photo by Jordan Neumeyer
  • Beta: Sweetwater Lake, White River National Forest
  • Expert: Jordan Neumeyer, astrophotographer

When DarkSky Colorado asked Jordan Neumeyer to take images at the Flat Tops Wilderness Area’s Sweetwater Lake to help it certify the area as an official Dark Sky Place, the Erie-based astrophotographer knew it would be a special spot. But even with those high expectations, Neumeyer wasn’t prepared for what he found. “It’s one of the darkest skies I’ve seen,” he says. “You get confused by the number of stars you can see.”

Although the lake isn’t the darkest spot in the state (it’s between a Class 1 and a Class 2 on the Bortle Scale, where Class 1 is pitch black and Class 9 is an inner-city sky), if you hike to the northeastern shore, you can set up your camera to capture the Milky Way as it comes into view over the water. On Neumeyer’s February 2022 visit, that required tromping through the snow at 3 a.m. The spiral galaxy rises earlier as warmer weather arrives—from around midnight in late May to closer to 9 p.m. toward the end of September. Just remember to plan around the lunar calendar: A full moon can wash out even the darkest skies. —JL

Read More: Your Guide to Stargazing in Colorado

13. Best Golf Tee

Photo courtesy of Denver Golf
  • Beta: Willis Case Golf Course, Denver
  • Expert: Kasey Cordell, 5280 contributor

Some argue that City Park Golf Course—with its view of the Denver skyline—owns the city’s best tee. Those people clearly haven’t tried to reserve a weekend slot there. Willis Case, a public course in northwest Denver, wins both in terms of bookability and beauty.

Perched above much of the city at 5,335 feet, Case’s first tee swaps skyscrapers for 250-million-year-old Front Range rock, and every hour affords a new perspective. At dawn, streaks of pink creep toward the mountains’ feet, while cerulean afternoon skies provide an excellent canvas for tracking your errant shot. And because the tee box is sandwiched between the ninth and the 18th holes, you’ll likely find fairway grass, whether you’ve got a nasty slice or a mean hook. Even better, Willis Case’s signature start hosts a rich ecosystem for more than your Pro VI ball. Lined by mature evergreens, home to hidden hawks, and dotted with flirtatious sand traps where foxes occasionally snooze (raccoons prefer the pocket of trees behind the green), the first tee offers 428 yards of potential glory that’s yet to be spoiled by your terrible swing. —KC

Read More: Your In-Depth Guide to the Best Golf Courses Around Denver

14. Best Section of Mountain Biking

Photo courtesy of Abbotts Photography
  • Beta: Hard Money Trail, Blackhawk
  • Expert: Nicholas Hunt, 5280 senior editor

After roughly 800 feet of descending, Hard Money splits into an A line and a B line. It’s not the only time this bike trail on Blackhawk’s Maryland Mountain presents riders with a choice. There are optional booters and rock rollers down the entire length of the black diamond singletrack, but none of those decisions are as dramatic as this one. Go straight and there’s more machine-sculpted berms. Make a hard right and you’re dropping down a 12-foot-tall boulder.

From the top, the descent looks spicy, with a rock wall to the right, a small drop to the left, and a 30-plus-degree roller in the middle. Originally, the trail builders weren’t going to include this hunk of rock, but once the crew of volunteer shovelers set eyes on it, they threatened to rebel if the slab wasn’t worked into the plans. Good thing they did. My stomach still drops a little each time I nose my wheel over the edge. That twinge of fear immediately turns to joy. Although it looks dangerous, unlike similar features in the region, navigating this boulder doesn’t require much beyond staying off the brakes so you don’t go over the bars. Do that, and you’re rewarded with one of those rare moments where a mere mortal feels like he should be on the cover of a magazine. —NH

Read More: 9 of Colorado’s Best New Mountain Bike Trails