Ideas for 2-3 Day Colorado Summer Trip

Four Pass loop in the Maroon Bells near Aspen(?) is a very popular backpack, absoutely breathtaking, very crowded though.

Anything in the San Juan mountains is great. Are you looking to do peaks, or just hiking? Chicago Basin is a great backpack, you take a train from Durango that drops you off in the middle of nowhere, hike in, set up camp then hike a bunch of peaks in the basin. The train ride is very scenic and fun.

Thanks, Kristen. Great suggestions. I'll look into both of them.

We're not opposed to doing peaks, but hadn't really planned on it either. If we did, we'd probably want to avoid anything technical.

I noticed that Chicago Basin sits at more than 11k feet, which could be problematic for me, as I generally don't tolerate elevation well.

"I noticed that Chicago Basin sits at more than 11k feet, which could be problematic for me, as I generally don't tolerate elevation well."

It'll be hard to find a worthwhile 2-3 day route in Colorado that isn't high elevation. Maybe instead of Colorado you could look at Utah?

Good to know. I'm very open to suggestions at this point, since we'd likely not do the trip until late summer.

Regarding the altitude issue- if you want beautiful mountains without high absolute altitude, how about Montana? Either Glacier National Park or the Bob Marshall Wilderness come to mind. Most routes thereabouts top out around 8000 feet.

There's still enough time to get a Glacier permit application in. They put all applications that they receive between March 15-April 1 in a lottery.

Can you define "late" summer? Is that August, or September? (It makes a difference.)

Thanks for the recommendation regarding Montana and GNP. In terms of late summer, I'm referring to September and possibly just after Labor Day, when crowds should be less of a concern.

Eh, yes, the weather starts getting unpredictable around then.

What would you all recommend for both Utah and Montana prior to Labor Day?

First week in September? Realistically, anything you like in Montana- you just have to acknowledge that the weather might be unpredictable, bring decent raingear, some plastic bags for your feet, etc. But odds are in the first week you'd be fine.

Regarding Montana, though, I'm working totally second-hand, since I haven't hiked there. (The guy to ask for good ideas in that region is Dave Chenault.) But from what I understand:

2-3 days probably isn't enough to do the big loops in Glacier, unless you're a sock puppet for Andy Skurka. There are many shorter out-and-back hikes there, though. Just get a map of the park and look for them. The northern half of the park is the more classically alpine, but the southern half is less crowded and still has world-class scenery. Not that there will be ridiculous crowds in September. There is an at-large camping area around the Coal Creek basin, which I mention because I personally find reserved campsites and rigid itineraries to be annoying.

You could probably make it to the Chinese Wall in the Bob and back, though that would be pushing it timewise, again.

In Utah, the first week in September might still be a bit early in the season, i.e. ridiculous hot. So stay high. On the plus side it is (IIRC?) probably out of the monsoon season so less risk of flash floods, yet there should be water available at the usual sources from the recent rains. As I recall October is when the leaves change color, and a very popular time in the region.

(As fate would have it, I'm currently researching Utah hikes for May.)

The usual national parks and monuments are of course options- Zion, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Grand Staircase, etc. Canyonlands can be annoying because water sources are not common in the park. Zion generally has decent water sources. I cannot speak intelligently about the others. Zion also has an online campsite reservation system that's pretty handy, actually. They open them in 3-month blocks, so for instance right now March, April, and May are open to make reservations. On April 1st it will be April, May, and June. Etc. You really have to jump on them on the first of the month to get what you want in peak season, which is spring and fall. But they reserve half of their campsites for walk-ins, too.

What I'm currently looking at are more off-the-beaten-path stuff, like Dark Canyon, Coyote Gulch, and Grand Gulch in the southeast corner. (All mentioned to me by people more informed about the region than I am.)

Grand Gulch is apparently lousy with Anasazi ruins and might be a great idea for 2-3 days, particularly Bullet Canyon. It requires a permit for overnight camping, available at the Kane Gulch ranger station. You can reserve ahead of time or walk-in. The Trails Illustrated map for Grand Gulch seems pretty good- it even has all of the ruins, arches, and water sources numbered.

I'm pretty sure that Coyote Gulch also requires a permit, since it's technically in Grand Staircase NM and Glen Canyon NRA. Dark Canyon is a wilderness- no permit needed.

For your 2-3 day itinierary, the region is lousy with shorter but interesting non-technical canyons. The accepted source is Kelsey's book:

http://www.amazon.com/Non-Technical-Canyon-Hiking-Colorado-Plateau/dp/0944510272/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426604228&sr=8-1&keywords=Kelsey+non-technical

He tends not to talk an awful lot about water sources, though, so some internet searching may be needed to feel secure on that issue.

As the other posters have noted, pretty much anywhere in CO is going to involve 10+K elevations. Both 4 Pass Loop and Chicago Basin are spectacular, but Chicago Basin is an out and back. It is also very crowded – when I was last there (2011), the TH sign recommended that campers go all the way on the "pack it in, pack it out" concept, and provided sealable poop bags to do so. This might be mandatory by now.

Another area to consider is the Flattops Wilderness. Although the elevations are still over 10K feet, the topography is quite gentle (once you are on top) and there are dozens of lakes and trails that can be stitched together for loop hikes of 2-5 days. The area around Big Fish and Trappers Lakes were burned pretty severely in 2003, but other areas should be good, including the S Fork of the White River.

Here's a pic of the upper S Fk White R country: