Best Hikes in Canon City, Colorado

Over the past decade, Canon City has transformed itself into a burgeoning outdoor destination that can compete with some of the most famous towns in Colorado. Located less than an hour from the metropolitan cities of Colorado Springs and Pueblo, this high desert destination has become a magnet for outdoor adventurers from across the region.

While the trail system here is best known for mountain biking, it logically follows that there are plenty of fantastic hiker-friendly trails as well. In fact, most of the recent trail building in and around Canon City consists of high-quality professionally-built multi-use trails. The vast majority of the trails built here were designed with all human-powered user groups in mind, and can serve equally well for mountain biking, hiking, or trail running.

In this guidebook, you'll find a wide range of hikes on multi-use trails that are hiker-friendly. Some trails in the region, such as the route to the top of Tanner Peak included here, are open to motorized traffic but are still attractive options. But all of the other trails in this guidebook are non-motorized, and the ones included here are all ideal for foot travel. These choices eschew the more bike-optimized trails that you might find in some of the trail systems and instead focus on classic singletrack hikes.

In fact, this selection of hikes includes a dramatic range of difficulties, from flat gravel railroad grades all the way to stiff peak climbs that could serve as great training hikes before the 14ers melt out. Choose your difficulty or distance based on your desires for the day, and prepare yourself to have a fantastic experience exploring the rugged mountains of Canon City!