Chair Rocks via Colorado Trail

For our 4th of July hike we decided to head down around Pine, CO. The main reason for this was that every popular campground and hiking area was swamped with people having a long weekend so we wanted to be as far away from them as possible. The drive from Denver took right around an hour and was very pretty once you went past Pine and you started to follow the North Fork South Platte River.

The hike itself was right around 10 miles with about 1,200 elevation gain if you hiked around the boulders some at the top. The first 3 miles are pretty hot and boring all-in-all. It goes through an area that is still recovering from a wildfire so there isn't much protection from the sun and after the first 15 min, the scenery is about the same.

After you get through that section, the next 3ish miles is similar rolling hills but they are going through a lightly forested area. You get a few minor views of some boulders in the distance but nothing life changing. The only thing really worth it on this hike is the last .25 miles or so when you get to the "Chair Rocks" portion of the hike. Once you start going up on some of the bigger boulders, you get a good view of the other side of the mountain.

Overall I'd say this is a fairly easy hike but I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone. There are a lot better places to go.