About Colorado United
Colorado United is an independent guide to hiking in Colorado: trail guides, fourteener route references, gear comparisons, and trip-planning explainers, built from public agency data and published to one editorial standard. Every guide exists to answer the questions a hiker has the night before: how far, how much climbing, what it takes to park and get a permit, when to go, and what to bring.
What we cover
- Trail guides. Distance, elevation gain, high point, trail type, estimated time, difficulty, best seasons, dog and kid suitability, parking and pass requirements, and trailhead coordinates for more than 100 trails from the Front Range to the San Juans.
- Fourteeners. Standard-route references for Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks: route class, mileage and gain, trailhead access, the season each is realistically in condition, and full route guides for the most climbed peaks.
- Peak weather and timing. Summit climatology, the afternoon storm pattern, and the windows that actually work for individual peaks.
- Gear. Comparisons chosen for Colorado's specific problems: altitude, thirty-degree temperature swings in a day, afternoon lightning, and long dry stretches of trail.
- Planning. Timed-entry and permit systems, shuttle logistics, altitude preparation, and leave-no-trace practice.
Where the numbers come from
Trail statistics are compiled from the agency that manages each trail (the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, or Colorado Parks and Wildlife) and from Colorado's statewide COTREX trail database, cross-checked against USGS topographic data. Fourteener route classes follow the Yosemite Decimal System conventions used by the Colorado Mountain Club and 14ers.com. Permit, fee, and reservation details link to Recreation.gov or the managing agency's own page so you can confirm them at the source. Peak weather pages draw on National Weather Service forecasts and station climatology. Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels and are credited on the image credits page.
Published figures for the same trail often disagree with each other, and GPS tracks vary with the device and the exact line walked. Treat our distance and gain figures as planning estimates rounded to the nearest useful unit, not as survey data.
What these guides are, and what they are not
Our guides are planning references compiled from published sources. They are not trip reports, and they cannot see this morning's conditions. Before you go, check the managing agency for closures, fire restrictions, and road status, and get a current point forecast for the trailhead and the summit. Above treeline, plan to be heading down before afternoon storms build; on the fourteeners, that usually means a pre-dawn start.
Keeping pages current
Every article shows its original publish date and, when it has been substantively revised, the date of that revision. Permit systems, fees, shuttle schedules, and access roads change from season to season; when we learn of a change we update the affected page and its revision date. If you find something out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
How we make money
Colorado United is free to read. It is supported by affiliate links (mainly Amazon Associates), display advertising, and occasional sponsored content, all clearly labeled. Gear recommendations are chosen on the merits of the gear. We do not accept payment for trail recommendations, and no advertiser influences what a guide says about a route.
The team
Colorado United is written, fact-checked, and published by the Colorado United Editorial Team, and bylines on this site credit the team rather than individuals. The standard is the same on every page: figures traced to a public source, permit and access details linked to where they can be verified, and a visible date so you know how current what you are reading is.
Contact
Email hello@coloradounited.com with corrections, trail updates, or partnership inquiries. The contact page explains what to include so we can act on it.