In August I’ll have about a week for solo hiking and iNatting in Colorado, after visiting some national parks and doing some other slightly more touristy things with my daughter the week before.
It would be great to get some suggestions on where to go from locals or people familiar with the area, both for iNatting and just for hiking in general. I live on the east coast, in the Mid Atlantic, so I expect a whole lot of what I’ll see in Colorado will be lifers for me, but if there are any areas with particularly high biodiversity that I shouldn’t miss please let me know. What are your favorite spots?
My general preference is for less popular hikes, since the fewer people there are in an area, the more animals, usually. And, while I enjoy seeing new animals in particular, I am not picky. I’m happy to see interesting plants, fungi, whatever. I don’t want to spend the majority of my time driving around, but I can go pretty much anywhere, though I’m flying in and out of Denver.
Also, if there’s anything not-obvious about staying safe, I’m happy to hear recommendations/precautions. For the most part I know how to behave around snakes, large mammals (including hairless primates), bees/wasps/ticks. In terms of protection I don’t usually bring anything with me beyond a multitool and bug spray.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!