Afoot and Afield: Denver/Boulder and Colorado's Front Range: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide [Paperback]

Alan Apt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2008 | Series: Afoot and Afield

This guidebook takes hikers throughout the Colorado Rocky Mountains and their foothills, rivers, and plains. Featuring more than 200 trips, from trails near the state’s Wyoming border to Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs, author Alan Apt maps out hikes both long and short, exploring trails accessible from Denver, Boulder, and other Front Range communities. Each hike has it's own map, and includes essential at-a-glance info as well as additional trail-use data such as which trails are suitable for children, dogs, horseback riding, and mountain bikes.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alan Apt has been roaming Colorado's hills and dales for more than 30 years. He is the author of the bestselling guidebook Snowshoe Routes: Colorado's Front Range. He is a somewhat reformed peak bagger, who has climbed many of the state's highest summits but also thoroughly enjoys the lakes, vales, and rivers. He is an avid hiker, biker, snowshoer, backcountry skier, kayaker, and backpacker.

Alan is a member of the Colorado Mountain Club and a Sierra Club trip leader, as well as a member of Friends of the Poudre. He is a former Ft. Collins city councilmember, who worked to create the city's Wind Power Program for the Natural Areas and Trails programs and to protect the Poudre River, and is currently on the city's Natural Resources Advisory Board. He is a Colorado Special Olympics and Eldora Ski Area Special Recreation Program volunteer. He is also a National Ski Patrol member, volunteering with the Diamond Peaks Ski Patrol and Snowy Range Ski Area. Alan is a former Ft. Collins Coloradoan newspaper local columnist. He is a technical book publisher by profession, and resides in Fort Collins.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Wilderness Press; 1 edition (February 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899974066
• ISBN-13: 978-0899974064
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #619,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #94 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Colorado

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Colorado hiking book, February 16, 2009

By 

Ed Beckmann (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Afoot and Afield: Denver/Boulder and Colorado's Front Range: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide (Paperback)

I have a bookcase full of books on hiking in Colorado. But when I'm looking to choose a hike, this is the first book I grab out of my stuffed bookcase. Why? It has a lot of variety to it: nearby hikes and hikes a bit of a drive away; challenging hikes and easy hikes; popular hikes and those off the beaten trail a bit. The descriptions are perfect. You know what to expect before you get there (so you can select hikes that fit your companions' abilities) and the directions are easy to understand and follow. This is the best hiking book I've ever owned. That's why I've bought it as a gift for others. I highly recommend it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent, but somewhat Fort Collins-centric, August 1, 2008

By 

Beegh (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Afoot and Afield: Denver/Boulder and Colorado's Front Range: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide (Paperback)

an excellent, nearly thorough guide to hiking in Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, southern Wyoming, and various points west. Apt is a superb writer and clearly a lover of nature rather than someone out to prove his ultra-fitness or mountaineering expertise -- a large number of the hikes are very modest outings suitable for young children or the elderly.

Just one major criticism: some strange inclusions and exclusions for a book with Denver/Boulder in the title. A number of hikes in Steamboat Springs and Wyoming are included, for instance -- both are a very sizable drive from anywhere on the Colorado front range except perhaps Fort Collins. Yet some truly awesome and popular hikes much closer to Denver/Boulder are excluded: 4th of July trailhead hikes west of Boulder are an especially glaring omission, as some of the most spectacular hiking in the country originates there. (Perhaps Apt wants to keep that increasingly popular area as much of a secret as possible.) Another strange omission, given Apt's somewhat Fort Collins-centric approach, are any of the trails in the main part of State Forest west of Fort Collins: anything north of route 14.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alan Apt's latest great outdoor book, April 26, 2008

By 

John P. Gascoyne (Fort Collins, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Afoot and Afield: Denver/Boulder and Colorado's Front Range: A Comprehensive Hiking Guide (Paperback)

Fans of Alan Apt's "Snowshoe Routes - Colorado's Front Range" will be anxious to see his latest accounting of the best outdoors adventures that Colorado has to offer. The book contains all of the great hikes in Colorado and many enticing but lesser-known ones as well. The author is a stickler for detail and provides comprehensive information and coherent maps for every described trail. If you could only have one Colorado hiking book, it would be hard to find a better one.