Preface
Welcome to Rocky Mountain National Park, one of America's premier hiking destinations. With over 350 miles of hiking trails winding through deep forests, alongside rushing streams, up to dramatic mountain lakes, across open tundra, and to the top of towering peaks, there is enough here to satisfy almost any hiker of any ability. Whether you want a gentle stroll or to push yourself to your limits, Rocky has it all.
This guide is designed to meet the wide range of hiking interests and abilities, from the ease of a wheelchair-accessible hike to the strenuousness of climbing Rocky's highest peak. It is unique in its format, listing the hikes in order of difficulty beginning with the easiest hike and ending with the hardest hike. This makes it very convenient to match hikes with your ability level.
This book has been written with a strong emphasis on reducing our impact on the wilderness. With the growing visitation to Rocky Mountain National Park, we need to do all we can to ensure that our visit does no harm to this amazing national treasure. Most of the damage done to our natural places is not intentional and can simply be avoided with greater awareness. I've therefore made it a point throughout this book to bring attention to ways we can be more aware of our potential impact.
At the same time, I've written this book to help ensure that you have the safest trip possible. Hiking in the mountains is certainly not without risks and every year there are many who find themselves in situations they had never anticipated. My goal is to keep you from being one of those. One of the ways I've focused on safety is by limiting this book to only official hiking trails. This not only reduces your chances of getting lost in the wilderness but also ensures that you aren’t encountering dangerous terrain such as cliff ledges or steep scree slopes. I also bring attention to most of the potential dangers you might encounter on each hike and explain how to avoid them.
As a professional landscape photographer specializing in photographing Rocky Mountain National Park, I've spent the last fifteen years exploring every corner of this incredible place. I've hiked every trail and most of them more times than I can count. When I was asked by the Rocky Mountain Conservancy to create this guide, I decided that I wouldn't rely on my memory, but I would go and hike these trails again. In the last year I've re-hiked every trail in this book. You might have seen me out there with my voice recorder taking notes or with various cameras taking photos and a GPS unit hanging from my pack. As I've written this book I've tried to make sure that the trail descriptions are accurate, easy to follow and also personal, as if I were showing you around myself.
My hope is not only that you will experience great hikes and be introduced to some new territory but also that you will fall in love with this place as I have. I hope you will be moved from being merely an admirer to becoming a supporter and champion of Rocky Mountain National Park and all of our nation's wild places. Lastly, I hope you will reconnect with your deepest self and be reminded of what is truly important in life. This is where the hope for our world lies — deep within each of us.
