Amethyst Lake

For beauty this trail rates a full five stars. Spruce trees the whole way, plus aspens in the lower part, wildflowers, enchanting meadows, lovely Salamander Lake, crystalline creeks dancing in the sun, craggy peaks to the sides. The road in, not so much. Four miles of solid rock and deep washboard. Then there's the trail: whoever laid it out didn't believe in switchbacks and so much of it is straight and steep. Trouble is, as the trail has worn in on the steep sections the dirt has eroded away, leaving loose rocks.