Chief Mountain Trailhead

"This trail is near Evergreen, Colorado. It's sort of near Mount Evans. The trail is about a 3 mile round trip hike that goes up to about 11,000 feet. It's got the best view of Mount Evans there is because it's the next mountain range over. The hike has 360 degree views, and is one of my favorite sunrise and sunset hikes because it looks all the way down into the Front Range and the Plains where it's flat. It shares a trail with Mestaa'ehehe Mountain (previously known as Squaw Tower), which is a fire tower that you can stay at for about $80/night. But I like the views at Chief Mountain across the road better. You'll be able to see about 20 mountain peaks from the trail in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. It's an awesome trip. I'd rate this hike kind of moderate. It's not super hard, but I can see it being hard for beginners. It's one of the mountains that they recommend training on if you're going to do a 14'er, or if you want to do a 14'er and you're coming from sea level, and need to acclimate first (which you definitely need to do). If you're a moderate level hiker, this will just be a nice beautiful hike, but like I said, if you're a beginner hiking, it might be a little challenging."

"WHERE TO PARK This hike is about 30 minutes above the small town of Idaho Springs. You can park near the trailhead along Colorado Hwy 103. There were a few other cars already parked there when we got there. THE TRAILHEAD The trailhead is on the opposite side of the street from where you'll park. Make sure you're using the AllTrails app to find the precise location of the trailhead once you park. DIFFICULTY LEVEL The hike was fairly easy to moderate. There was a ton of snow on the ground when I did this hike, which I loved. I did use spikes coming down the mountain but they weren't absolutely necessary. It is very windy up top so be prepared. HIKING TIME It only took about 50 minutes to reach the peak. Then about 35 minutes going down. "