So Many Ways to Love Summer | COME TO LIFE Hiking Let your legs move you through Colorado’s hidden gems, protected wilderness areas, red rocks and high-mountain desert landscapes. WHERE TO START: Explore any Colorado State Park or national park or monument (page 32). • Pick up trail maps at any visitor center — many have trails that start right from their downtowns. • Use the Colorado Trail Explorer (COTREX) app, where you can filter by location, difficulty, scenery and more. Rafting & Boating Landlocked Colorado will surprise you with its rushing rivers, mountain basins and deep-blue reservoirs. A FEW IDEAS: Grand Lake • Lake Dillon • Boulder Reservoir • Lake Granby • Lake San Cristobal (Lake City) • Lake Meredith (Sugar City) • Vallecito Lake • McPhee Lake (Cortez) • Carter Lake (Loveland) • more than 300 Grand Mesa lakes near Grand Junction, Paonia, Delta, Cedaredge and Hotchkiss • 26 Colorado State Parks See page 60 for the full whitewater rundown. Wildlife Watching & Birding Few other places in North America offer such a bounty of wildlife-watching opportunities, from bald eagles to white-tailed ptarmigans and bighorn sheep to bison, elk, mule deer and many more. WHERE TO START: Eight National Wildlife Refuges are peppered across the state. • There are dozens of Colorado Birding Trails. • Designated trails in our 43 state parks, nine national monuments, four national parks and two national grasslands are rich with wildlife opportunities. 19 KENNAN HARVEY. Near Durango COLORADO . COM
Colorado Official State Vacation Guide 2023: Page 19
