Best Hikes Near Silverthorne, Colorado

Silverthorne is the practical basecamp for the Gore Range, which is the most rugged and least-hiked of the Front Range / I-70 corridor wilderness areas. The Gores have no 14ers, which keeps the crowds thin, but they have some of the most dramatic alpine basins in Colorado.

Buffalo Mountain (12,777 feet) is the iconic Silverthorne hike: 6 miles round trip with 3,000 feet of gain to a summit directly above town. The trail is steep and unrelenting, with a final scramble through talus to the summit. The view from the top spans the entire Gore Range, Tenmile Range, and across to Grays and Torreys. Trailhead is at Ryan Gulch Road in the Wildernest neighborhood. Park early; very limited parking.

Lily Pad Lake (about 3.5 miles round trip, 500 to 750 feet of gain depending on the start) is the easy family option from the Ryan Gulch trailhead in Wildernest or the Meadow Creek trailhead in Frisco. Two small ponds and aspen views.

Mesa Cortina Trail and Gore Range Trail provide longer backcountry days from the same Wildernest trailhead complex. Gore Range Trail is a 50-mile through-route along the spine of the range; most people do day-out-and-back sections.

Willow Lakes (12 miles round trip, 2,700 feet of gain from the Willowbrook trailhead) is the area's premier alpine basin: a chain of high lakes under Red Peak. The trailhead is at Mesa Cortina; the route is long but mostly moderate.

For a shorter alpine option, Salmon Lake is a spur off the same trail a mile or so short of the Willow Lakes.

Dillon Reservoir, 5 minutes south of Silverthorne, has a paved recreation path around much of the shoreline used by locals for running and easy walking. Good for acclimatization days.

Silverthorne sits high enough that altitude is a real factor for visitors driving up from Denver. Sleep here for at least one night before any 14er attempt in the area. Read our altitude sickness guide.

Weather is consistent with the rest of the I-70 corridor: afternoon thunderstorms reliable in July and August, snow lingering on Buffalo Mountain into late June. Winter shifts everything to nordic skiing and snowshoeing.