My wife and I are visiting my sister in Denver at the end of September. My wife and I have from Friday through Tuesday (flight leaves Wednesday morning, so 4 nights) and my sister can join us just for the weekend (Friday and Saturday nights). Ideally my wife and I would be able to make full use of the 4 days for a more immersive experience, but my sister will need to be able to duck out via a hopefully not-too-long possibly-solo hike back to her car. This makes for an interesting trail-finding constraint. Any suggestions?

RMNP is out due to road construction and their annoying regulations. All three have us have some experience mountaineering (and I have lots) so some scrambling or snow travel is no obstacle (though climbing is not the main intent on this trip). It's not totally necessary, but drives under 3 hours from Denver will be awarded bonus points!

Thanks for any suggestions!

I did a trip in the Holy Cross Wilderness 2 summers ago. It was awesome. We did it in 2 nights, but it could have easuly been extended to 3 or 4. It would be about a 2 1/2 hgour drive from Denver. We started at the Fancy creek trailhead and came out at the Missouri Lakes tralhead. I had a little write up here:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=55157&skip_to_post=468434#468434

You could also climb Mt of the Holy Cross to get a 14'er in while you are there also. That would kill another day.

Ben

Thanks for the suggestion, Ben! That looks like a really good trip. Nice pictures too. Do you know the total mileage? How much was on trail vs off trail? Thanks again!

+1 Holy Cross Wilderness

Take a light fishing setup too for a treat! We experienced no need to go off-trail.

Andrew
I think the total mileage was about 25-30 miles. About ⅔ was on trail, but one could do it with only about 1 mile off trail if you wanted too.

There would be an option for someone to hike out on an easy trail to the half moon trailhead on day 2 if you left a car there.

If you want a map with my route, shoot me your email on a PM and I'll send it to you.

Ben

Another +1 - great country. I also second the notion of a fishing setup.

Richard

Thanks for the suggestions, all! I will take a good look at this area. Any other suggestions out there?

Excitement is brewing...!