| Discover More About The Vail Hiker! | ||||
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Explore Vail, Colorado's glorious backcountry!
High
Visit meadows awash with bright wildflower color.
Watch the aspen change from green to gold in mid-September.
Scan mountain vistas from scenic high passes.
Explore an 1880s ghost town and travel routes of gold rush prospectors.
A new, revised edition features the just-debuted North Vail Trail, accessible without car from Vail Village.
Winter users will find snowshoe and ski trails to snow-blanketed beauty spots.
Enjoy this best-selling book for all seasons!
Each of the 50 trails has its own topo map and photo illustration.
Silence pervades the snow-quilted back country on a wilderness ski tour.
Meet the hiker-historian!
Discover for yourself the rich trail descriptions and detailed directions.
A 60-foot waterfall, stunning against black granite, plunges from a cliffside.
Try this popular trail mid-week to enjoy more solitude.
The Gore Range presents formidable rock walls, sawtooth ridges and rich green gorges.
Start early on this full-day, six-miles-each- way hike to Booth Lake |
 Editorial Reviews Summit Sentinel "Mary Ellen Gilliland has just completed her second trail guide, The Vail Hiker. She hiked each of the trails, re-hiking the ones where forks could lead people in the wrong direction. Some of them she hiked as many as two or three times." The Vail Trail "This 102-page book contains 40 hiking and ski trials in the County, from Vail Pass to the Gypsum area. ...Adding great dimension to this guide book are the chatty narratives about what hikers can expect to see, including tidbits of information about bygone mines, the flowers, and the surrounding mountains. Also of note are the special hikes for kids, such as a waterfall on Cataract Creek near Camp Hale or the big sandbar on Black Gore Creek. Gilliland says she hiked every trail. "I feel that's important," she said "because there's always a fork where the trail goes into the trees and people have created the beginnings of a misleading path,'" Columnist J.D. "Colorado" Farr in The Summit County Journal "A few years ago she wrote the very successful and popular Summit Hiker book. The Vail Hiker is a companion volume ...This is an excellent book and I would recommend it to you. One of the charms of books by Mary Ellen is that she not only gives you a trail guide and description, but she captures the beauty of the area in her prose. "This edition is a good addition for any mountain hiker
library."
Publisher Comments
Book Description
From
the Publisher I like to include the historic background of the places hikers see. An old cabin stirs questions-who lived there, and why? Mining ruins make one wonder, what story lies behind this abandoned equipment and swaying log buildings? I love to find the answers and weave them into my hike description along with the names of the wildflowers along the trail and tips on seeing the elk, deer and other birds or animals I may have encountered. I want to share these experiences with my readers.
You'll never forget the Eagles Nest and Holy Cross Wilderness areas.
There's nothing as refreshing as a morning stroll through an untouched aspen woods. Join me in the sheer pleasure of exploring Vail's
beautiful back yard--the pristine glade and the breeze-rippled meadow
await you. Your Vail/Beaver Creek vacation won't be complete
without sampling the beauty of its mountain surroundings. Come hike
these beautiful trails with me! Here's a Sample from this Popular Guidebook:
1 BOOTH FALLS AND LAKE Falls: Lake: Yes, there is a heaven and it's tucked away up Booth Creek. Waterfalls (try to count 'em) include 60-foot Booth Falls at two miles where a crystal cataract gleams diamond-like against black rock. Beyond the falls, find Switzerland transported to the Rockies--flower-dotted subalpine meadows, green carpeted clefts, stunning views. The tarn, in a circle of moss rock and pink quartz, is a haven for hikers--and the curious marmot. Drive 0.9 miles west from I-70 East Vail exit 180 to Booth
The trail climbs north through aspen in a steep start, then levels to a
gradual ascent through clover-scented woodland. In July, look for Relocate the main trail and hike alongside the creek before climbing northeast into a deep conifer forest. The stream reappears, running alongside the trail. Look here for the elusive star-flowered pyrola (wood nymph), a white, waxy, close-to-the ground blossom. As you move into the meadows, notice the trail fork (second meadow, just above 10,200 feet) where a footpath at left provides access to the Piney Lakes region via the Piney Creek Trail. Up higher, you can spot the green saddle where the advanced trail crosses over. As the trees thin, the terrain changes constantly, providing views to the jumbled Gore Range ridges above, fields of flowers below, dozens of waterfalls and a trail that winds through green gorges and valleys. The final climb to the lake is relentless. Good boots pay off here. But flowers--rosy paintbrush, elephant head, queens crown, yellow monkey flower and Parry's primrose, plus fringed later-season gentian and star gentian--provide a feast for the eyes. Booth Lake, at 11,480 feet, is big by alpine tarn standards and boasts an island plus good fishing. Rocks above offer a smooth spot for picnicking but watch the cold wind. Find protected campsites in the woods below. Rolling rocks on the trail back to timberline demand caution on the trip down. As you approach the Vail
valley, you may want to muse upon the area's history: Charlie Baldauf, a miner from silver and zinc-rich Gilman, built an early-day cabin at
Booth Creek's mouth. Baldauf used hard-rock mining techniques to prepare his building site--he blasted out willow shrubs and boulders
with dynamite. The Vail Mountain School has renovated Charlie's homestead and occupies it today. |
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