Great Sand Dunes National Park: Sangre De Cristo Wilderness Area

Chief Mountain - Arapahoe National Forest - Evergreen, CO

The trailhead was almost covered in snow but with some recent melt was found in between mile markers 17 and 18 on Squaw Pass Rd. just outside of Evergreen, CO.

 

Great views of the "Highest Paved Road in America." It leads to the 14,265ft summit of Mt. Evans (pictured above).

View from the summit at 11,700ft after a Class Two scramble over some scree.

Petrified Forest National Park

Chautauqua Park: Royal Arch Trail

Sugarloaf Mountain: Boulder, Colorado: Roosevelt National Forest

Sugarloaf Mountain is located in the Roosevelt National Forest just outside of Boulder, Colorado. It can  be accessed from downtown Boulder in as little as 20minutes from CO-119 and Sugarloaf Mountain Road. It offers panoramic views over Boulder County as well as into the Front Range, Indian Peaks Wilderness, and Longs Peak. Sugarloaf shares its trailhead with the Switzerland Trailhead, another series of trails leading further up the canyon from Sugarloaf. 

The well-marked trail leads directly from the parking lot to the summit with 400ft. of elevation change and can be walked leisurely in 10minutes. I visited Sugarloaf in late-March when there was snow covering half the trail and most of the summit. The snow was 'no big deal' and easily navigated.

Some of the summits from the Indian Peaks Wilderness peeking through the conifer forest.

Views from the summit into the Front Range on a crystal clear blue sky day in Colorado. 

Summit view at 8938ft.

Alderfer Three Sister Park: Jefferson County Open Space: Evergreen, Colorado

Colorado National Monument