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Rather than address each individual peak with its own chapter, hikes in this book are arranged by trailheads. Because some of these trailheads offer access to the same peaks, it’s good to have options to explore new routes on the same mountain. In each trailhead listing, peaks that appear for the first time will appear in a list, while peaks already covered in previous chapters will be listed in parentheses. A good example of this is Torreys Peak, which can be accessed by Stevens Gulch, Waldorf Mine, and Loveland Pass (among others).

The upshot means you’ll have lots of great options at many of the trailheads. A weekend car-camping adventure to Mayflower Gulch can snag you Drift Peak, Atlantic Peak, Pacific Peak, Crystal Peak, and Mayflower Hill. Or you could even traverse over from Crystal Peak and do a point-to-point to the Colorado Trailhead at Copper Mountain. The ability to mix and match peaks is part of the allure of I-70’s summit collection.

Driving Directions

While most of the driving directions are straightforward, extra attention has been paid to the legality of parking areas and accurate mileage counts. It can be infuriating when you wait all week for a great hike, just to get flustered by shoddy directions. All these hikes have been personally climbed by myself (often several times) and driving notes are of special note for accuracy.

Vehicle Recommendations

For each trailhead, vehicle recommendations are made. The majority of trailheads are reachable by passenger car. If not, roads are declared passable by sport-utility cars (SUCs) such as Subaru Outbacks/Honda CR-Vs, sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) like Toyota 4Runners/Nissan Xterras, or dedicated four-wheel-drive vehicles like modified Jeep Wranglers. If a road gets close to the trailhead before hitting a tough four-wheel-drive section, passenger car parking is provided.

While I now have a mountain-worthy vehicle, I spent many years exploring the mountains of Colorado in a beat-up Honda Accord and did pretty well! I-70 is especially accommodating for less burly vehicles.

Difficulty and Class Ratings

Hikes in this guide are scaled 1–10, 1 being the easiest, 10 being the most difficult. It is important to know that a 1 in this book may be an 8 in another guidebook. Mountain hikes are tough, there’s no way around that. But once you’ve gotten a few under your boots, the relative scale of the difficulty will make sense.

Fit hikers will be able to complete all the hikes in this book—with good style! There are some long days and hard routes, but nothing that gets into elite or technical climbing. Beginning hikers can enjoy the lower difficulty hikes, especially summits like Peak 6.5, Uneva Peak, Loveland Pass west circuit, and Grays Peak.

As previously mentioned, the most difficult routes in this book are rated Class 3—but don’t let that fool you. The hiking class designations are merely suggestions, and even Class 2 trails can be scary in bad conditions or if there’s crazy exposure.

Here’s a look at the (somewhat agreed upon) rating system used in Colorado:

• Class 1: Nontechnical, easy terrain. This is reserved mostly for simple trails or very low angle grassy slopes. Class 1 can still be steep but lacks any big fall risks.

• Class 2: This is your standard-issue hiking terrain: rocky trails, a few steep sections, the occasional easy scramble or big step. Fall potential is very low or nonexistent.

• Class 2+: A good designation for Class 2 with extended but safe scrambling or off-trail routes with rock outcrops. Scrambles are solid and always have bail-out options. This is the most advanced terrain that is safe to take dogs on.

• Class 3: Sustained, advanced scrambling with hands and feet with low fall potential but medium to high consequences from a fall. Rock is normally solid and helmets may be advised. Some Class 3 is on very solid rock with big exposure.

• Class 4: Class 4 is essentially low-level rock climbing, and ropes are sometimes used on Class 4 terrain. In general, the rock is solid, risk of fall is low, but consequences are high—fatalities have happened when climbers underestimate Class 4 routes. This book doesn’t cover any Class 4 routes, though there may be moves on certain routes that could be somewhere between Class 3 and 4. Experienced climbers and those used to exposure generally are confident on Class 4.

• Class 5: Technical climbing, where rock climbing shoes, mountaineering boots, ropes, and harnesses are usually used. Not covered in this guide.

All ego aside, this book rates routes a bit conservatively. When there are explicitly dangerous Class 3 moves, they will be mentioned. For many of us, those are the most exciting parts of a climb! Ultimately, it is up to hikers to use their best judgment and know their abilities when tackling mountain hikes.

Optional Routes

Along with the standard routes, each chapter has a collection of optional routes. Many of these point-to-points make for fun, extended adventures that cover a lot of ground. Additionally, some of the routes that didn’t make it into the book appear in trip write-ups online (mountainouswords.com/I70-hikes) to describe why they weren’t up to par. There are many more options than presented in the book (such as hiking from “Golden Bear Peak” from the Loveland Tunnel West Trailhead all the way to Guenella Pass!), but with all the optional entries, there are more than 100 possible routes within these pages to keep the most avid hiker busy for a long time!

Extra Credit Hikes and Points of Interest

When deciding the radius of hikes, a max distance of 10 miles off I-70 is the sweet spot. By increasing that range by a mere 2 miles, dozens of new trailheads become available—and there are only so many pages available! However, some of the hikes that are very close still make it into this guide, albeit in truncated form. Many of these hikes have detailed GPS files available for free at the official book site: mountainouswords.com/I70-hikes. You’re bound to be drawn to some of the nearby peaks you see from the summits of the “official” mountains, so adding them online gives added value to his book!

There are also a few places worth visiting while you’ll be in the mountains, such as old mines, plane wrecks, and eerie cemeteries.

It’s a three-dog day along the 7:30 Mine Trail.