>>1893285Find an area either where you'll be or where you want to go, download freeUSFS maps to look at in greater detail and then once you've narrowed it down you can buy hard copies of the maps you need. There are a shit-ton of little trails going everywhere in basically every piece of public land, many of which are very sparsely used and not visible on online maps.
I also personally recommend taking at least a day to do a couple of scenic drives, especially Highway 12. I would do it as the last part of a loop; starting early from Colorado Springs, hit Hartsel, Frisco/Silverthorne, Leadville, shoot down to La Veta on 285 (at Poncha Springs either keep going south to take a gander at Great Sand Dunes NP on the way or head east and go 50 -> 69 to head to La Veta via Walsenburg; the former gets you the dunes but the latter is otherwise prettier IMO), take the pass and then jet back up to the Springs on I-25 because it'll be dark by then. Or you could split it up into two days, spend a day taking your time getting to Leadville and poking around and then finish out the loop the next day at the same pace. Just don't do it as the first thing you do if you're coming from low elevation because if you rock up to 10,500' and start hiking hard you could literally keel over and die.
