pike national forest

We stayed two nights in a Pike National Forest campground. Pleasant hosts, quiet solitude, beautiful scenery. It was lovely.

We found ourselves driving thru the Pike National Forest. It was average with some strange rock formations here and there. Ok drive!

If you enjoy hiking, camping, exploring, fishing or 4 wheeling you won't be disappointed. Conveniently located about 2 hours from Denver. Mosquito's can be a problem in the summer. Very nice for day trips to escape the heat.

Located in the front range, the Buffalo Creek campground area is easy to get to from Denver. Both a pro and a con as it fills up quickly, especially the first come/first serve campsites. But the campsites are spacious and easy access to biking/hiking trails. Trails closer to the campgrounds are of course busier, but keep hiking/biking and you'll find yourself pretty much alone to enjoy the scenery.No showers, which can keep the "glampers" away. :) and possibly your friends depending on how active you are...

The Pike National Forest has been through some rough times, but is recovering nicely. This forest covers a much larger area than around Fairplay. It is one of the closest forests to Denver, and is very easy to access. Many wild turkeys live in the forest near Denver. During turkey hunting, the campsites fill up quickly. Some of the habitat was destroyed by forest fire in recent memory. The turkeys seem to ignore this. They can be found walking peacefully along Colorado 67, and the other county roads in the area.This huge forest area has many OHV roads and trails. There is a large area along Rampart Range that is turned over to OHV use. OHVs must be registered, or be licensed and street legal to use in the area. There are some new OHV areas in the forest fire areas.The forest is starting to recover from the many recent fires. Many beautiful areas were lost to carelessness. "Remember, Only YOU can prevent forest fires".

From offroading to prospecting, hiking to mountain climbing or fishing and so much more. Pikes National Forest has it all.

How do you rate a National Forest? Well it is possible. I have had a weekend cabin right across the road from the Pike National Forest Boundary for 13 years. Many times every month I actually go across the street and hike some of the most quiet and tranquil forest I have known. I also drive short distances to various other forest hiking trails many of which get very little use and typically have no other hikers. We have commented that seeing 3 other hikers on a 3 hour hike is a busy trail in the Pike National Forest. The local forest service office is doing a great job of balancing non-motorized and motorized access to forest service roads. There are hundreds of miles of solitary hiking trails where your group will be hiking alone except for the occasional wildlife. This summer we have seen two different moose cows with their calf. This is the first summer we have seen moose and it is very exciting. Last weekend (Aug 2013) we hiked 6 miles on the Crooked Creek trail East of Fairplay and saw no humans and two moose. For those people that visit Colorado and spend time fighting the crowds and parking in Rocky Mountain National Park, plan to take time and see the UNCROWDED parts of Colorado. PS. Entry is FREE!

This is a good place to summit a 14'er because you start pretty high. Also, you can hit 3 peaks in one day at Democrat, Cameron, and Lincoln.

Pike NF is a sprawling collection of environments variously enjoyable all year long. In the mad rush to Summit County and the Divide, a lot of Front Range folks rush by it. Our biggest Pike experience is with the Tarryall Range in NE Park County. It's reachable by Park County Road 77 (where the infamous Hayman Fire started). Trails lead up into the Tarryalls from various stops NW of Lake George on US 24. The east end of the Tarryalls is reachable from Mantukat Rd, which links up with Cheesman Reservoir from the north.As tourists and locals pretty much race by the Tarryalls, the trails in the Tarryalls are not too well maintained, but they're generally passable. The best part is that you rarely see anyone while you're hiking. You can drive Pike Forest roads up behind North Tarryall Peak to start hiking there (we hike up North Tarryall from the south side, where we have a second home), or you can hike up from Spruce Grove or other stops along 77.The USFS leases a lot of the meadows for cattle, so you should either carry your water or bring a good filter to avoid giardia. There's a pretty large elk herd that works between Tarryall Reservoir and Kenosha Pass, and their scat also gets into the creeks coming down from the Tarryalls.At the lower elevations on the north flank of the Tarryall valley a fair number of people practice shooting (legally, for those who don't realize it), so avoiding them (kind of obvious where they are) and/or wearing blaze is a good idea (especially including the dogs, as a lot of shooters have varmint licenses to take down dog-sized coyotes).The best part of the Tarryalls is the solitude so close to the Front Range cities. But that's also the bad part, as the USFS doesn't spend much on forest road and trail maintenance in this underutilized part of Pike Forest.The book Colorado's Lost Creek Wilderness: Classic Summit Hikes provides some trail details (though Amazon reviewers didn't like it).

Ahhh, the beauty and peace of walking in the woods. The trees are elegant now in autumn colors and the path is carpeted for your pleasure. The small mammals are preparing for winter.

Green pines, Gold & red Aspens and----snow! on the pass and the mountain peaks. A must see no matter what the season!

If you plan to take the Pike's Peak higway up to the top, make sure you are in good condition and used to elevation and thin atmosphere (14,000+ ft). I could not make it to the top the first time I tried.

We hiked to the summit of Mount Sherman, our first climb to the altitude of over 14,000 feet (a fourteener). The road from highway US 285 to the trailhead was off-road and very rough for approximately ten miles and requires an 4WD SUV.