Trails in Colorado
There are 9 National Park Service units that include territory in Colorado. The directory below links to every park guide we maintain for the state. For multi-state parks, you'll see the same entry on each state's page — the trail catalog itself is identical.
Trip planning from Colorado typically means balancing drive time against trail effort. A weekend out of state can be more efficient than a one-day push to a closer unit if it means daylight on the actual trail rather than behind the wheel. Use the per-park guides to compare difficulty and seasonality before locking in dates.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Sheer narrow gorge with dark Precambrian rock walls plunging up to 2,700 feet to the Gunnison River — among the deepest, narrowest canyons in North America.
Colorado National Monument
Sheer-walled red-rock canyons and monoliths above the Grand Valley near Grand Junction.
Dinosaur National Monument
Quarry exposing Jurassic-era dinosaur fossils in situ, plus 200,000 acres of canyon country along the Green and Yampa rivers.
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
Petrified redwood stumps and exquisitely preserved insect fossils from a 34-million-year-old lake bed.
Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve
Tallest dunes in North America (up to 750 feet) at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Range, fronted by the seasonal Medano Creek.
Mesa Verde National Park
Best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings in the United States, set among piñon-juniper mesas in southwest Colorado.
Old Spanish National Historic Trail
2,700-mile 19th-century trade route linking Santa Fe to Los Angeles across the southwestern deserts.
Rocky Mountain National Park
Crown of the Continent's southern reach — alpine tundra above 12,000 feet, dozens of named peaks, and abundant elk and bighorn sheep.
Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
Solemn site commemorating the 1864 massacre of more than 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho by Colorado militia.