Wildsam Field Guides

In a landscape like the Colorado Rockies, nearly every route is, by luck and necessity, the scenic route. Wildsam Field Guides: Colorado Rockies leads travelers into the Colorado high country with guidance from trusted local adventurers and wilderness guides.

This handsome volume features a deep dedicated section of wide-ranging trail selections and backcountry wisdom, while also covering gold mining, hot springs, Indigenous history, the fate of wolves and grizzlies, the best mountain town burgers and beers, and much more. Readers will discover mountain stories, travel intel & modern lore including:

• A full guide to hiking in the Rocky Mountains, from gear and safety tips to curated day trips and scaling fourteeners
• Seven scenic drives for mountain-fresh air and visually stunning landscapes
• Where to find the best tacos, fry bread, steakhouses and sandwich joints
• Nightcap recs, from historic saloons and ghost town bars to top-shelf apres ski cocktails
• Statewide guide to gear outfitters and fly fishing shops
• Historical musings on Ute history, sandhill cranes, the Gold Rush, hot springs of note, and local flora & fauna
• A 5-day road trip to experience the best of Colorado
• Stories and insights from local trail runners, writers, artists, Indigenous historians, trail designers, scientists and conservationists
• Fresh new essays by authors Krista Langlois and Aaron A. Abeyta
• Legacy excerpts from Isabella Bird, Enos A. Mills and Zebulon Pike

Contributors include world-champion mountain runner Joseph Gray, writer Pam Houston, forestry technician and trail designer Loretta McEllhiney, hermitic scientist Billy Barr and poet and Antonito mayor Aaron Abeyta.