Hiking Colorado's Sangre de Cristos and Great Sand Dunes

This hiking guide to the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness and Great Sand Dunes National Park offers more than 70 hikes to explore the length of the range. Additional information on geology, history, and wildlife round out this superb guidebook.

Lace up your boots and head into Colorado's rugged Sangre de Cristo Mountains to explore this spine of soaring peaks that stand more than a mile above the San Luis and Wet Mountain Valleys. Here you'll discover plunging creeks, gorges cut from chunky conglomerate, and valleys where elk, bighorn sheep, coyote, and cougar live. Climb Kit Carson Mountain, Crestone Needle, or Blanca Peak; hike Black Canyon or Wild Cherry Creek. Wander the Great Sand Dunes National Park, which has the tallest dunes in North America. Local hiker and outdoor writer Lee Hart will introduce you to these trails and many more.

Inside you'll find: up-to-date trail information; accurate directions to wilderness trails; difficulty ratings; topographic trail maps; zero-impact tips.

Whether you are planning a day hike or an extended backpacking trip, you'll find trails suited to every ability and interest in one of the most beautiful regions of Colorado.

Lee Hart is a full-time public relations professional and part-time freelance journalist who enjoys writing about the things she is passionate about: outdoor adventures close to home and around the globe, skiing and mouuntain biking. She can really work herself into a froth writing about water issues and water politics. She lives on the river in the sweetly unpretentious mountain town of Salida, CO.