WHERE TO SEE THE BEST WILDFLOWERS IN COLORADO

When I was hiking in the foothills in Colorado in mid-May I was surprised (though maybe I shouldn’t have been) to see wildflowers. My all time favorite season is wildflower season so I was very happy. Different seasons can change the look and feel of hiking trails significantly. The pop of color lining the trails during wildflower season brings fresh energy and life to the trails coming out of winter. We’ve had quite a bit of rain over the past couple of months so everything is lusciously green and is showing beautiful color.

Deep in the mountains where there is still quite a bit of snow in May, wildflowers don’t start showing up until end of June/early July. They start appearing at the lower elevations and gradually move up towards the top of the mountain come August. If you plan your hikes based on when wildflowers appear at different elevations, you can see wildflowers almost the entire summer! A good rule of thumb to seeing wildflowers is the higher you go in elevation, the later in the season they bloom (July & August). The lower the elevation (the foothills) the earlier they bloom (May & June).

Trail recommendations for May wildflowers:

• National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Ramble Trail (3.4 miles, 725 ft. gain)
• North Table Mountain via Rim Rock Trail (4.6 miles, 662 ft. gain)
• Red Rocks and Morrison Slide Extended Loop (4.3 miles, 900 ft. gain)
• Anywhere in Golden, Boulder, Morrison and the surrounding lower elevation areas 🙂

Trail recommendations for June wildflowers:

• Loch Lomond Trail (4.6 miles, 900 ft. gain)
• Grouse Creek Loop (5.6 miles, 1,140 ft. gain)
• Bear Peak via Shanahan Ridge (5 miles, 2700 ft. gain)
• In June you can start moving to slightly higher elevations depending how quickly the snow melts (e.g. Idaho springs, Evergreen, Conifer)

Trail recommendations for July wildflowers:

• Arapahoe Pass and Lake Dorothy Trail (7.1 miles, 1900 ft. gain)
• Willow Lakes via Gore Range Trail (11.6 miles, 2700 ft. gain)
• Second Creek Trail to Twin Cones (5.4 miles, 1400 ft. gain)
• Trails in and around Crested Butte, Vail, Aspen, Granby, etc. The world is your oyster for trail options to see wildflowers at higher elevations come July 🙂

The past two summers, I have been traveling outside Colorado during wildflower season so I was unable to enjoy them but this year I have made sure not to miss it! The best display of wildflowers I have seen in Colorado was in Crested Butte. Unsurprisingly, Crested Butte is known as the “Wildflower Capital of Colorado”. They host a wildflower festival the second week of July every year during peak season which I was able to attend this year.

The wildflower festival lasts for about two weeks and there is a calendar jam packed with activities each day including painting lessons, photo hikes, educational sessions, etc. I visited to hike and enjoy the wildflowers so I only attended the farmers market outside of my time on the trail. The wildflowers were in full bloom below tree line and there were quite a few areas where the wildflowers were waist high. I wanted to do a longer hike on the Saturday I was there so I chose to do the Oh-Be-Joyful trail which is about 13 miles and 2,200 ft gain. The views were spectacular and there were wildflowers at the lower elevations. The lake still had quite a bit of snow so it would be a couple of weeks for wildflowers to show up there. There was a lot of snow melt and water run off which led to big waterfalls and high river crossings. I had to take my boots off multiple times to cross rivers and the water was icy cold!

On Sunday, I loosely hiked Snodgrass Mountain Trail. I added on Teddy’s Trail which led you through the most beautiful fields of wildflowers I have ever seen. I started early and it was the most peaceful morning. It’s hard to explain how beautiful it was so I will add pictures to do the talking for me 🙂 A trail I did not get to that I hear has amazing wildflowers come July is Scarp Ridge Trail to 421 Trail Loop (4 miles, 1400 ft. gain). The road to get to this trailhead is quite bumpy and a higher clearance vehicle is recommended. All I can say is Crested Butte during wildflower season is a MUST see and you can’t go wrong with any trail choice in that area.

The summer driving route to Crested Butte takes you over Cottonwood Pass which is closed in the winter. Cottonwood Pass has a ton of hiking and camping along with water sports on Taylor Park Reservoir and the Taylor River. I had never driven over Cottonwood Pass and I did not actually know it existed so it was a very pleasant surprise. Beautiful driving routes make long drives enjoyable and now I have a new area added to my list to explore next summer.

Enjoy wildflower season while it lasts! There are so many amazing trails to check out to indulge in the most wonderful time of the year.

Until the next tale… Happy trails.

-Hannah

This post is dedicated to my Aunt Jeanne who quite literally brightened up our lives all while fiercely battling through the toughest storms. If anyone represents the strength and resilience of a flower after a long winter, it’s you.