Explore Colorado: Mountain Capital of the USA
Monarch Crest Trail, Salida. Rider: Marcel Slootheer
If any one state, any one region can claim to be the epicenter of mountain sports in the USA, it is Colorado. From its venerated 58 mountain peaks soaring above 14,000 feet to its endless singletrack trails, fluffy powder in the winter, endless fields of wildflowers in the summer, and golden aspen leaves in the fall, Colorado is a paradise for mountain adventure.
Out of any state in the USA, I have spent the most time exploring the trails and mountain ranges in Colorado. After spending a formative summer working as a guide in Colorado in 2008, I continued to travel back to visit and ride. Finally, I moved to Salida in 2013 and spent about six years as a full-time resident in this idyllic mountain town.
Scarp Ridge, Crested Butte
Six years. Six years spent exploring the best trails out my back door, taking weekend trips to nearby towns, going on media trips to top resorts, and crafting my own vacation getaways to far-flung mountain ranges and hip mountain towns alike. Six years of exploring Colorado, of writing about its trails, of pushing endless digital pixels about its greatness.
In six years, Colorado's towns and population changed dramatically, and that change has only continued to accelerate. But what hasn't changed is the draw of the dramatic sky-scraping mountain peaks. In fact, if anything, the outdoor access has only gotten better. More trails have been built, more whitewater parks, better ski resort infrastructure... despite the state's explosive population growth, Colorado is and will remain one of the best destinations for mountain adventure in the world.
Finally, I've finished collecting all (or at least, almost all) of the adventure guides, articles, trail reports, and more that I've published about mountain destinations in Colorado. You can find all of these guides rounded up on the dedicated Colorado Adventure Guides Page.
Climbing Mount Oxford
On that page, you'll find guides for a whopping 44 different destinations. I won't bother listing them all here, as the list includes every major mountain town in the state of Colorado, plus most of the minor ones. While the major cities see a bit of representation here, you won't find too many recommendations along the metropolitan Front Range.
Yes, the trails along the Front Range are definitely the most popular in the state... which is precisely why I didn't bother spending too much time riding them. Oh, I've ridden a few over the years, but instead of fighting the crowds in Denver, I spent the vast majority of those six years surrounded by the solitude of the true Rocky Mountains. This list of in-depth guides reflects exactly that: how I spent most of my time living in the Heart of the Rockies.
Trail 401, Crested Butte
PS
If you find yourself on the website are trying to navigate to the Colorado adventure guides, you'll notice that I've changed up the adventure guide navigation. As I've finished guides for more and more states, the Adventure Guides menu started to get quite long. So, I've created a dedicated Adventure Guides landing page, which you can find right here, or in the navigation bar at the top of the website.
This page is organized with a highlights reel at the top, directing you to the top adventure guides. Currently, the highlight reel links to the Van Life page, Arizona page, Colorado page, and Oregon page.
Below, you'll find an array of links to all of the states and countries that I've documented thus far, arranged in alphabetical order. You can click out from this page to the detailed round-up for each state and country.
Note that to click out to each state page, you have to click the black button, not the thumbnail image.
PPS
I've also published the round-up pages for Switzerland and Hawaii.
