You don't have to drive very far from Denver to get into Colorado's vast wilderness areas. One place less than 30 miles from the city is Golden Gate Canyon Park. I recently visited here just as the colorful fall leaves were ablaze, and can highly recommend it.

Golden Gate Canyon Park covers an astounding 12,000 acres over several mountains. The park brochure mentions that the park's elevation varies from 7,600 feet to over 10,400 feet. There are also valleys, meadows, mountain streams, and beautiful scenic overlooks throughout the park. Besides that, there is 35 miles of trails, several campgrounds, and numerous picnic spots; you will have enough to keep you busy for days on end.

If visiting for the first time it's worth stopping at the Visitor's Center on Golden Gate Canyon Road and paying for entrance fee ($6/vehicle) and getting a map. There are two paved roads through the park and one (Mountain Base Road) requires a park admission sticker to drive on it. The Visitor's Center also has some fish ponds, a small gift shop, restroom, and a reading area with a fireplace.

The best way to see the park is to take Mountain Base Road up to Panorama Point. The road gets pretty windy and twisty at times (no trailers allowed) and has numerous scenic overlooks as you ascend up Tremont Mountain. I stopped several times to take pictures of 14,000 ft. peaks off in the distance and of the shimmering Quaking Aspen trees. There are also picnic tables and/or benches every mile or so along the road.

At Panorama Point there is a large scenic overlook where you can look out over a large valley and see the mountains spread out all across the horizon. The scenery is spectacular (Do not forget your camera!) Nearby is the reverend Ridge Campground. I drove through and noticed it was quite large, heavily shaded, and has an access road for trailers and RVs. The elevation is pretty high here (over 9,000 ft.) and it was about 15 degrees cooler than in Denver.

I didn't do hardly any hiking although the trails look inviting. Some ''surprise'' thunderstorms cropped up with big, stinging raindrops and some vivid lightning. Although they passed quickly, I was (stupidly) unprepared for the quick change in weather. Another hint is to make sure you have your park sticker (available at the Visitor's Center or scattered kiosks). The rangers were vigorously looking for cars without passes and nailed at least one visitor with a fine.

If you visit Golden Gate Canyon Park it's best to take Golden Gate Canyon Road from Golden, CO. It's just 13 miles from Golden but the road is quite twisty as it runs through a long canyon. I also recommend loading up on supplies and gas beforehand since I didn't see many stores of any sort near the park. This is a great park to visit for a day trip, a picnic or for hiking. I highly recommend having a map and being ready for all kinds of weather though. The park is huge and covers many mile of rugged outdoors wilderness.