Hiking in Telluride, CO

This 12,804-foot peak looms over the town of Telluride and Bear Creek Canyon. The old mining route up to its summit was restored by local mountaineering legend Chuck Kroger before he passed away from pancreatic cancer on Christmas Day, 2007.

The 12,785-foot Ajax Peak looms over the town of Telluride at the back of the picturesque box canyon. Don’t you want to be able to say you’ve been up there?

“Hiking the Wiebe” is a rite of passage for Telluridians. Starting and finishing right in town, this short but sweet (steep, that is) loop is a veritable sampler platter of Telluride hiking.

Hike up to the top of Colorado’s tallest free-falling waterfall, which serves as the gateway for Bridal Veil Basin—a veritable wonderland of lakes, waterfalls, and wildflowers.

Telluridians spend all spring waiting for this high-alpine gem to melt out. It’s a massive, strenuous climb up to the high country from town, but the payoff is equally huge: cascading waterfalls, wildflowers galore, and a landscape bathed in all elements that define Colorado’s high country.

The Liberty Bell Loop is an extremely steep quad-buster of a loop on sparsely traveled trails that proffer some of the best panoramic views to be had in Telluride.

The Eider Creek/ Mill Creek Loop is a scenic, well-signed day hike primarily through aspen groves, with several meadows, wildflowers galore, and clear views of the surrounding mountain ranges.

A moderate hike that travels from 9,400 feet to three astonishingly blue lakes at the foot of Mt. Sneffels.

This 4.6-mile roundtrip, out-and-back hike to Bear Creek Falls starts right from downtown Telluride and sports a challenging but “mellow” grade (by Telluride standards), climbing about 1,000 feet in 2.5 miles. You’ll be rewarded with stunning views of town, steep craggy cliffs and a box-canyon waterfall at the turnaround point.

This locals’ secret goes by many names—Owl Gulch, Clay’s Way, the “Wild Wiebe” or the “Dark Wiebe”—and, as a relatively new trail, it sees very little foot traffic compared to the adjacent, similar, and far better-known Jud Wiebe loop. It’s about 3 miles round-trip from the bottom of Tomboy Road.

Only have one day in Telluride to get outdoors and into the wild? Let this 13-mile wildflower-studded loop from town be your self-guided tour through some of the San Juan Mountains’ finest high-alpine country.

The Keystone Gorge hike is a relatively new 2.5-mile round-trip loop, which cuts through a scenic and rarely traveled gorge—flanked by high canyon walls, tall pine trees, mining artifacts, and the roaring rapids of the San Miguel River.

This five-mile loop through private property permits public access, but receives very little foot traffic since it’s a little ways out of town.