Advertisement: When I provide a link to a map for a given route, please take it with a grain of salt. I have not done these routes myself yet and the planned route is simply my best guess. I could be completely wrong. Please don't do something dangerous (technical climbing or exposed scrambling) or stupid (trespassing).

Colorado

Misc Boulder Area

BURL: Boulder Ultimate Ridge Linkup
  • OK, yes I stole this name from the WURL: Wasatch Ultimate Ridge Linkup.  This one won't rise to that level of difficulty but looks like a lot of fun. 
  • The basic idea is to travel from Eldorado Canyon to Boulder Canyon staying as high as possible.  Think of the Boulder Skyline Traverse but replace all the trails with scrambling.  I've started scouting for this one and it looks doable but will definitely be a serious project.  
Fairview Group Traverse:  ~30 miles, 2 days
  • A off-trail loop on either side of Overland Road.  
  • Honestly, I'm not sure how feasible this one is.  It looks like the USFS land is very discontinuous to the west of Fairview Peak.
UN 8339' (near Fairview Peak Summit)
  • The easy way: from Lefthand Canyon
  • The hard way: from the Narrows on CO 7.  Return via Heil Valley Ranch through Lyons. (21.5 miles, +/- 5600')

Nugget Hill and Ball Gulch
  • Probably from south side. 

South Sheep Mt
  • A loop from Dry St. Vrain TH
Twin Sisters Peak (RMNP) from Lion Gulch:  ~18 miles, +/- 8000'
  • I've wanted to do this one as a crazy day hike for a while but those vert numbers are pretty daunting.  I might add some distance and make this to an overnight trip.

Indian Peaks Wilderness

Brainard Lake Traverse​: This one day affair would hit all the major peaks that can be seen from Brainard Lake. My original attempt of this one is here. Will definitely make another go next season. The primary targets are listed below.
  • Audobon (via SE Ridage, Class 3)
  • Paiute Peak (via East Ridge, Class 3)
  • Mt Toll (West Sneak, Class 4)
  • Pawnee Peak (S. Slopes, Class 2)
  • Shoshoni Peak (N. Slopes, Class 2)
  • Apache Peak (NE Ridge, Class 4--same as Kasparov Traverse but without the towers)
  • Navajo Peak (via Apache S. Ridge, Class 3 then Navajo West Chimney, Class 4)
  • Niwot Ridge (Class 2 if staying south of the ridge crest, at least Class 3 on the ridge itself
Peaks in bold have been completed on the my previous attempt of the Brainard Lake Traverse and those in italic were completed on the LIGANN Traverse.  The ridge between Shoshoni and Apache is the crux.
Sawtooth-Algonquin- Paiute - Audobon Loop ​
Mohling Traverse
​Neva/Jasper Combo

Rocky Mountain National Park

Lumpy Ridge- Still haven't explored this area yet.  

Never Summer Traverse ​
  • The Never Summer Range looks like it'll be my next obsession.  
  • Caltopo map here: caltopo.com/m/UGU0

McHenry's Peak (via Stone Man Pass, Class 3)
Hayden Gorge/Forest Canyon
  • I don't think it's totally crazy to try this one in the winter but maybe so.  
  • scratch that.  I recently did this in August 2019 and doing it in winter would be completely nuts.

Isolation Peak

Ten Lake Park (West Side)

Snowdrift Lake

LA Freeway

The Gore Range

All of it.

Misc Northern Colorado Mountains

Mt. Zirkel Wilderness:  Wyoming Trail (seems to usually be done with a car shuttle) Rawah Wilderness: Rawah Lakes Loop

Cache La Poudre Wilderness

The USFS website description of the Cache La Poudre Wilderness:"Use is low and only one trail, the Mount McConnel National Recreation Trail, exists in the wilderness. Travel is accomplished only by scrambling and bushwhacking in stream bottoms, on ridges and along game trails."  Sounds like my kind of place.  

Lost Creek Wilderness

  • ​Kenosha Mts/Platte River Mountains Loop: North and South Twin Cone, Payne Peak, 3 days,  ~35 miles, +/- 10k vert
  • Follow Lost Creek from East Lost Park to Refrigerator Gulch; I'm especially interested in the big NW-SE gulch to the NE of Bison Peak)
  • Lizard Rock and South Tarryall Peak (I think the burn around S. Tarryall is pretty bad so we'll see)

Mt. Evans Wilderness + Surrounding

  • Winter: Abyss Lake from Burning Bear Campground (approx). 16.8 mi, +/- 3800' (round trip)
  • Winter: Shelf Lake from Burning Bear CG: 12 mi, +/- 2500'

Buffalo Peak Wilderness

The delusional "Big Loop" on this map: https://caltopo.com/m/QFTK
  • 45 miles, +/- 12k' (approx)

Holy Cross Wilderness

Tuhare Lakes
  • Could be a fun winter trip, though I'm not sure what the access roads will be like.  This could be a deal breaker for a weekend trip.  

The Western Region (NY Mt., Finnegan Peak etc) looks pretty cool.  

​

Ragged Wilderness

  • Chair Mountain
  • Scarp Ridge hike

Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness

Do these trails still exist??? (west of Lost Man Loop):  caltopo.com/m/63A2

The Elk Range

Maroon Bells/4 Pass Loop:   26 mi, 7800' vertical gain -->2 days
Caltopo map here: caltopo.com/m/G9DV
  • Apparently this one is crazy busy with tourists so I'll probably want to do in a few months removed from the peak season (July) on either side.  Proabably mid-September? 
  • At first I was drawn to a winter trip (ie: May) but I'm giving serious second thought now, regarding having to get back over passes to get to my car.  It seems very possible to find yourself "stuck" on this one. 
    • 3 days/2 nights minimum depending on whether the access road is closed, which would add 12.6 mi and 1500 ft of vert gain round trip.
    • Currently planned for late Oct-early Nov 2019.  Keeping fingers crossed snowfall cooperates.

Sawatch Range

Collegiate Peaks Loop--160 miles, 1-2 weeks.   ​
​Nolans 14-- would be done as a backpacking trip, not some crazy ultramarathon.

Flat Tops Wilderness

Lost Lakes-Devil's Causeway (19.5 mile loop)
Map here:  ​https://caltopo.com/m/8GGU  (route not mapped yet)

Pawnee National Grassland

Pawnee Buttes. -- Most material I've found online indicate that this is a very short out and back.  Maybe it's possible to turn this into a ~30 mile backpacking trip during the winter???

San Juan Range

Ice Lake Basin/ Vermillion Peak
Wheeler Geologic Area (La Garita Wilderness)

Sangre de Cristo Range

Sangre de Cristo Traverse
  • Only a loose idea at this point.  The idea is largely inspired by some trip reports I stumbled across on www.14ers.com.  It seems like the northern section could be done 2-3 days.  A traverse of the southern section would be much more involved and-of course-is much more appealing to me. 
  • Apparently, Cam "Swami" Honan has done his own variant of a Sangre de Cristo Traverse.
  • My ever evolving map is here:  https://caltopo.com/m/QA1A
I have since learned that you can't avoid Class 5 difficulty if you stay on the ridge.  This one requires more thought.  

Misc Colorado Scrambles

Bookmarking this list so I don't forget: https://14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41356&start=12

Misc Route Ideas

Apparently, Dave Cooper wrote a bunch of article for the Denver Post.  His trips typically avoid 14ers and seek more rugged, isolated terrain.  Generally, the Denver Post articles describe routes that are distinct from those in his book.  All of his stories are here: ​https://www.denverpost.com/author/dave-cooper/

Montana

Glacier National Park

Backpack to Cracker Lake.  (see beautiful photos here:  ​http://www.thenationalparksgirl.com/adventure-guides/#/backpack-to-cracker-lake-glacier-national-park/)

The Bob Marshall Wilderness Open

​bedrockandparadox.com/bob-marshall-wilderness-open/

Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness

  • This summer (2019) my mind is mostly set on doing Skurka's Wind River High Route as my big trip, but next summer, 2020 I'm going to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.  I'd love to get up to Alaska but that stars don't seem aligned for that.  The ABW is maybe the nexts most genuinely wild place I could go as a substitute.  I get the sense that this is where you go when you want to go exploring and not care if anybody knows you are there or not.   
  • Nate Bender's recent adventure where he summited all 27 12ers in Montana in a single push was what pushed me over the edge.  This really seems like my kind of place.  

Wyoming

Grand Tetons

Backpack the Teton Crest trail.  

Wind River Range

Wind River High Route!  

Gros Ventre Wilderness

Brewster Lake & Gros Ventre Wilderness Loop

Absaroka Range

Greybull River and Burwell Pass Loop

Misc southern Wyoming (desert)

Adobe Town Rim Wilderness Study Area

Other ideas from Douglas Lorain's book "Backpacking Wyoming"

Since my first visit to Wyoming, I've been surprised that the southern Wyoming is so un-loved.  Full disclosure: the ideas/places below were all listed as in Douglas Lorain's book as bad places to go because water is hard to find.  That should just keep the crowds down right?  
  • Sweetwater River Canyon
  • The Honeycombs
  • Jack Morrow Hill
  • Boars Tusk
  • ​Encampment River Trail

Idaho

Hells Canyon

Long Trails

Continental Divide Trail:  Mexico to Canada.  Crossing through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.  3100 miles, 4-5 months.  

Great Divide Trail:  Along the Canadian Rockies.  Connects Waterton Lakes and Kakwa Provincial Park. 786 miles, 1-2 months

Colorado Trail:  Connects South Denver to Durango San Juans Range.  486 miles, ~30 days

Some items on this list are more realistic than others.  
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