I'm working on planning a trip in Colorado in mid June for me, my girlfriend, and her dog (a 1 year old Border Collie).
We're both pretty inexperienced. I have a few 1 nighters under my belt.
We want to do a series of 1 or 2 nighters over the course of a week. Daily out & backs of maybe 5-8 miles each way. Specific trails are not important I'm just looking for general areas to consider. Once we get those nailed down I will purchase detailed topo maps. We may spend 1 night in a hotel in the middle of the week.
We're doing our best to prepare, we have all the adequate gear and are going on multiple easy test runs prior to the trip. What I'm looking for is advice for locations. We want to set ourselves up for success with good conditions. We have sleeping bags rated down to the mid 20's F.
We're curious about the strategy of dealing with afternoon thunderstorms as well.
So, to summarize, we're looking for areas with no snowpack & ideally good weather (no rain or thunderstorms if at all possible). High altitude is fine. Night time temps not lower than the mid 20's. I realize conditions in the mountains can be highly variable but I'm just looking for general suggestions in areas that are usually reasonable in mid June. National Parks are out of the question because of the dog. Not interested in super crowded areas but certainly wouldn't mind having other people around.
Any and all suggestions or tips would be heavily appreciated.
Thanks!!!
