| BY JOHN MEYER, JMEYER@DENVERPOST.COM
Hello, outdoors lovers! With hiking season upon us
(if it ever actually ended this winter), I have a tip to tout. I'm not a big fan of crowd-sourced hiking apps, and for me, the COTREX app has them all beat. This week I planned a hike that involved linking four different high-country trails in a loop. I was able to highlight them on a map, apply a measuring tool to determine the cumulative distance, get elevation information and share the map with a colleague. Created by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, using geo data from more than 200 land management agencies, it covers more than 45,000 miles of trails in Colorado. And it is free. Heads upRecord-breaking heat is forecast across the state for the next three days, according to National Weather Service forecasters. Some areas are expected to hit 90 degrees by Saturday. Most will be in
the upper 80s. , 
Aspen Skiing Co. snowmaker Travis McFlynn adjusts a snow gun at the top of the X Games terrain park on Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, on Friday, January 9, 2026. (Photo by Kelsey Brunner/Special to The Denver Post)
Your Weekly 5:- Colorado’s mountains are likely already at peak snowpack. Now the heat dome will kick off melting.
- Yosemite drops Rocky Mountain National Park out of top five on list of busiest national parks
- No permit required to hike to Colorado’s Blue Lakes in 2026, but limitations coming in 2027
- Is Aspen over? Another year of poor snow has loyalists rethinking trips.
- These rain-soaked spots in the West might be having a superbloom
Worth Your Time
Beauty abounds on Colorado fourteeners. This photo was taken on Mount Bross. (Courtesy Laura Sanders)
Get Yourself Outdoors
The Mount Blue Sky Hill Climb, a 27-mile, 6,700-foot ascent from
Idaho Springs to the summit of Mount Blue Sky and back, takes riders high above timberline on one of Colorado’s most prominent fourteeners.(Reid Neureiter/Provided by Evergreen Ride Club)
 DOG OF THE WEEKPutter "He is the best Christmas present who gets into everything," owner Kevin writes. If you want your pup featured, email a photo and short description to tfries@denverpost.com. 
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