Out for meetings at USA Cycling, Tim and I detoured to spend two nights in Colorado’s Lost Creek Wilderness, about two hours southwest of Denver and part of Pike National Forest. More photos are in the Flickr gallery.
With the region just coming out of winter, we encountered few people and had perfect timing. Any earlier and snow or frozen creeks could have been a real problem. Any later and we would have gotten nailed by the rain and freak hail storms that followed literally immediately, starting as we drove to Colorado Springs and continuing off and on for several days. As it was we had ideal weather the whole hike, just hitting freezing at night and low 70s in the day.
This whole area was really fantastic. Lots of great rock formations in different styles, a variety of trees, and numerous small creeks. Terrain varies from woods to meadows to mountain pass plateaus. Significant sections are still marked by the 2002 Hayman wildfire, with landscapes of green grass and red dirt dotted by coal black trees. There are a couple options for loops of varying length around this area, and I highly recommend it.
More photos are in the Flickr gallery.
