By Joshua Berman I am thrilled to announce that the cover design for “Moon Colorado Hiking,” my 6th book title for Moon Travel Guides, has been finalized! We wanted a cover that would capture the spirit of hiking in Colorado, and I think we nailed it. The cover features a stunning photo of Crater Lake at the peak of fall foliage season, taken by yours truly on a hike in the Maroon Bells last October. And who’s the burly cover model? That’s Rob Steffens, a backpack expert with Deuter who hiked 13 miles with me that day on the West Maroon Pass Trail, which is one of the 75 Colorado day hike ..read more

Hike on West Maroon Pass is a challenge for the body and a treat for the soul By JOSHUA BERMAN | First published in The Denver Post on Oct. 18, 2022 The shuttle bus buzzed with excitement as we approached the trailhead. You could see it on the hikers’ wide-eyed faces, which lit up when the jagged, snow-dusted Pyramid Peak and Maroon Bells appeared through the windshield. The Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, a 181,535-acre chunk of the Elk Mountains in White River National Forest, is a veritable playground for hikers. All trail styles, effort levels and lengths are available here: out-and-bac ..read more

More people are hitting the trail. How has the outdoor recreation industry responded? BY JOSHUA BERMAN | This article was first published in Elevation Outdoors in March, 2022 The surge is real. There are more people out there than ever before, steepening the curve of an already growing interest in the outdoors, an ongoing trend that exploded in the summer of 2020 when COVID-19 distancing, closed gyms, and lockdowns drove hordes of new hikers and happy campers into the hills. The Numbers Lydia Davey of Hipcamp, the world’s largest provider of outdoor stays, says that during the last two years ..read more

This article first appeared in The Denver Post on Dec. 26, 2021 Whether you need time on the trails, a climb up a rock face or time with a book by a fireside, this Front Range-adjacent town has it all By JOSHUA BERMAN | Special to The Denver Post There is that sense of smallness you feel as you ascend and twist along Highway 36 toward Estes Park. This eastern gateway town to Rocky Mountain National Park is close to the Front Range, but can feel worlds away. There’s something about those granite cliff faces, the iconic Stanley Hotel atop its hill, the lake, the massive peaks of the Continental ..read more

Shining Mountain Waldorf School backpacking trip is powerful experience By JOSHUA BERMAN | First published in The Denver Post on October 24, 2021 On the final evening of a three-day backpacking trip, 25 seventh-graders and a few of us teachers and trip leaders gathered around the campfire. After much tired laughter and a few silly songs (think Arlo Guthrie’s “The Motorcycle Song”), the group settled into a more serious mood. The tight circle of 13-year-old eyes looked across the fire to Craig Rubens, trip leader and movement and outdoor education director at Shining Mountain Waldorf School, an ..read more

This article first appeared in the Fall 2021 edition of AAA Colorado EnCompass magazine. Hot Springs, Camels, and Aliens, Oh My! Zenlana Berman, 11, searches for a suitably steep line at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. © Joshua Berman In the south central part of the state lies the San Luis Valley, an 8,000-square-mile high-elevation expanse extending from the Continental Divide southward to New Mexico. It’s an area so enormous it generates its own weather and geography, which my daughter and I experienced when we visited last spring. Day 1 Entering the San Luis Valley ..read more

50-mile trek is fueled by thoughts of a soothing soak, massage This article first appeared in The Denver Post on July 25, 2021 It was drizzly, the forest floor spongy with moss and pine duff, and water droplets gathered on fallen aspen leaves and spider webs. I noticed these details while hiking southbound on Collegiate East, a spectacular, steep, unforgiving 80-mile chunk of the Colorado Trail, which stretches 485 miles from Denver to Durango. There were mushrooms too, different colors, sizes, and species popping through the soil’s crust along the trail. Many of them still had dirt and fir ne ..read more

This article first appeared in The Denver Post on July 25, 2021 The Same River Twice: Time Travel in Cataract Canyon By Joshua Berman The sign on the bank was the same as how I remembered it from my last time here, when I floated by this spot on the Colorado River 24 years ago. It reads: DANGER: CATARACT CANYON HAZARDOUS RAPIDS 2 MI, PERMIT REQUIRED FROM SUPERINTENDENT CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK FOR BOATING BELOW SPANISH BOTTOM.  To reach this point, in 1997, my friend, Sean Gaughan, and I paddled a canoe for seven days down the Green River, which joins the Colorado just upstream from here ..read more

Thank you the Longmont Times-Call, especially to reporter Kelsey Hammon, for her article “Joshua Berman is a Tranquilo Traveler.” The profile was a part of the newspaper’s annual 100 people feature, which arrived as a glossy magazine insert in today’s paper. Thanks also to Matthew Jonas for our 5th grade classroom photo shoot. Joshua Berman’s career as a writer has been anything but a 9-to-5 desk job. He’s tasted boa constrictor, climbed narrow mountain highways, sat in the back of a truck as he sped by volcanoes in Nicaragua, and blistered his feet on the Colorado Trail. Before he zoned in o ..read more

New Feature Article: Explore Snowshoe Trails With Beautiful Scenery This article was first published in Country Magazine, Jan. 19, 2021 Explore snowshoe trails in five top destinations across America. Watch for winter birds and wildlife, and admire the snowy landscapes. Scenic Snowshoe Trails Across America I’m out on the snowshoe trails in the Mount Evans Wilderness, about an hour west of Denver, Colorado. Canada jays flit swiftly through the pines, and I hear the occasional muffled thump of snow as it falls off branches in the morning sun. My metal snowshoes crunch softly as they sink ..read more