Everyone loves the beauty of Colorado - and everyone wants to go out and see it for themselves. As a result, many of Colorado's most beautiful places are often crowded and busy, and that's the opposite of the experience in nature that most people seek - enter the Flat Tops Wilderness Area. This 235,214-acre oasis near Meeker is the second-largest wilderness area in the state, but hardly anyone knows about it! You can sometimes spend hours or even days exploring this wilderness area without running into many (or even any) other people, and it's absolutely beautiful.

Look at this picture! This is just one example of the immense beauty of the Flat Tops Wilderness Area in Colorado. This land was protected by the United States Congress in 1975. It's managed by the National Forest Service.

You won't find many roads in this area, although there are a few to help us access it. However, you'll find lots of trails to hike and explore.

To give you an idea of the area that this wilderness area occupies, it's north of Glenwood Springs, east of Meeker, west of Yampa, and south of Craig.

There are over 110 ponds and lakes in this area.

You can also get quite a bit of elevation here. There are peaks that are 11,000 and 12,000 feet tall here. The tallest point in this area is Flat Top Mountain, at 12,361 feet in height.

There are so many places to explore in Flat Tops Wilderness Area. It's huge! You can hike many miles of trails.

One of the most thrilling and popular is Devil's Causeway, a very narrow trail with drop-offs of hundreds of feet on each side.

The area is also open to horseback riding on some of the trails.

In the spring and summer, you'll see countless wildflowers in this area. You also have a good chance of seeing wildlife. They are really doing their own thing in this area with so few people to bother them.

There are a few campgrounds in the Flat Tops Wilderness Area, but not many. Many other people boondock or dispersed camp here.

In the autumn, the colors really pop. This is a great place to visit during the foliage season. Just keep in mind also that the snow can come quite early at this elevation.

No matter when you choose to visit the Flat Tops Wilderness Area, though, you're going to love it. This is a very special, beautiful, quiet, and serene place. This is the real Colorado. Go check it out!

The Flat Tops Wilderness Area is a hidden gem of Colorado with so much beauty and so much space to explore. Even if many more people visited this area, you'd still be able to enjoy the silence and solitude here. Plan a visit today to check it out - you're going to love this part of Colorado.

If you're looking for more great things in Colorado that you've never heard of before, then check out this list of Colorado's hidden gems!