Review by Lynda La Rocca
Recreation – October 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
Hiking Trails in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Area
by Lora Davis
Published in 1994 by Pruett
ISBN 0-87108-847-9
WILD is the operative word for the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Area. This tract of almost 168,000 acres, roughly bounded by Leadville, Buena Vista, Taylor Park, and Aspen, is a magnificent montage of wildflowers, wildlife, wild weather, and wild frontier history.
The Collegiate Peaks Wilderness offers something for every persuasion of back-country hiker, backpacker, camper, and adventurer: steep scrambles over rocky ridges; meandering ascents through broad blossom-strewn alpine meadows and glacial valleys; thick forests of aspen and evergreen; tumbling waterfalls and secluded alpine lakes; crumbling remains of 19th century mining operations and the towns built to serve them.
Within the Collegiate Wilderness are eight of Colorado’s fifty-four 14ers, along with many peaks only slightly less lofty — yet equally or more challenging. Many are accessible to anyone in relatively good condition with a basic knowledge of high-country trekking.
As author Lora Davis readily admits, this book is not intended to be the definitive guide to the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Area. Instead, it is an outline of the author’s favorite hikes and as such, it is highly subjective and somewhat limited in scope.
Nonetheless, as an introduction to the area, focusing on nearly three dozen of this remote region’s numerous trails, Davis’s book is a helpful aid to both experienced and novice hikers.
Her prose is studded with colorful observations of local flora and fauna, descriptions of natural high-country phenomena like “watermelon snow” (an algae growth which stains the snow deep pink), anecdotes about long-abandoned mining towns, and reminders concerning responsible wilderness use and environmental sensitivity.
Davis occasionally indulges in wonderful reveries, as in this description of Lake Ann: “The final approach is steep and dramatic. Angular granite slabs form stairstep waterfalls that terminate in a deep, crystal-clear pool. Are there water spirits playing here? It seems one can almost hear them laughing and singing…”
But sometimes her imagination is a bit too vivid, as in this reference to mines visible from South Fork Lake Creek Trail #1466, which Davis describes as “occasionally active, their activity following the vagaries of the human spirit and the price of gold.” It’s highly unlikely that the price of gold would make much difference in a mining district which was marginal to begin with and is now in a wilderness area.
The book is divided into sections on hikes in the western, northeastern, northern, southern, and western parts of the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Area, with a separate section on Colorado Trail crossings. Each hike is prefaced by a bold-faced listing: distance (round-trip or one-way), recommended uses (day hike, overnight, extended backpack), rating (easy to difficult), and information on specific Forest Service, Geological Survey, and Trails Illustrated topographical maps.
Trail hike descriptions close with quotes about the earth, the environment, and the nature of humankind, contributed by everyone from Mahatma Gandhi to John Muir to Kermit the Frog.
The book is illustrated with the author’s black-and-white photographs and hand-drawn and labeled maps. At a price of $16.95, professionally prepared maps would have added to this book’s value as a hiking companion.
— Lynda La Rocca