These 5 Backcountry Huts Have The Best Leaf Peeping You Can Get

Fall is here. Watch the leaves transform from the comfort of these backcountry huts.

Share

Save

Fall foliage in Minnesota (Photo: Tammi Mild via Getty)

There’s something special about spending a night or two in a mountain hut. Cozy fireplaces and fully kitted-out kitchens can make a trip into the wilderness feel like a retreat.

Although many of us associate hut stays with winter travel, fall is just as good a time to stay in a backcountry hut. Leaves are changing, air is cooler, and mornings are crisp. So leave the tent at home and enjoy the autumnal color show at one of these huts where fall foliage is the headliner.

Many huts book weeks or months out. If you can’t book a stay during peak color this season, plan ahead for next.

Banner Ridge Backcountry Yurt

Boise National Forest, Idaho

In the fall, Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains come alive with color, and there may be no better way to appreciate the vibrancy of the season than at the Banner Ridge Backcountry Yurt, just an hour and a half from Boise.

The cozy yurt with a wood stove sleeps up to six. There’s just enough space and amenities for a small group to relax in backcountry comfort while taking in views of the colorful aspens and cottonwoods surrounding the South Fork of the Payette River, Bear Valley, and Scott Mountain.

Late September to mid-October—so, now—is typically peak color in the area. Via gravel Highway 385, a high-clearance 4WD vehicle can make it within 300 yards of the front door. Need an alt? Park in the Banner Ridge Park N’ Ski Parking lot off Highway 21 and walk in.

Broome Hut

Winter Park, Colorado

This hut, surrounded with mountains, is located not far from Winter Park in the impressive Second Creek Basin. It’s a short but steep mile hike on Second Creek Trail up to your abode, but expect plenty of golden aspen trees peppered between the dense evergreens on the mountainsides of the Continental Divide.

The hut houses 16 people between bunk rooms and private rooms—mattresses and pillows included—and there’s a pellet stove for warmth. Propane is on-hand for stoves, and there’s even a hand-pump faucet in the fully outfitted kitchen (though you’ll still need to filter before drinking).

Once you reach the hut, there’s plenty more hiking to enjoy around and beyond it.

Boreal Backcountry Cabins

Tofte, Minnesota

If you know, you know. Northern Minnesota has some of the most spectacular fall foliage in the country. “Easily some of the best I’ve ever seen in the U.S.,” says Jeremy Greenburg, the chief information officer at travel comparison site SlickTrip.

To enjoy the natural color show, plan a picture-perfect trek through vibrant and peaceful maple forest to the Boreal Backcountry Cabins near Tofte, Minnesota. These two hike-in-only dwellings are less hut and more rustic cabin, but that doesn’t make them any less welcoming. Plus, they’re just off the Superior Hiking Trail, a 310-mile long thru-hike, so you can stay during a weekend trip or a longer adventure.

Hike in from Britton Peak Trailhead (3.1-miles) or Oberg Mountain Trailhead (4.5 miles). There’s an artesian well and a few cooking supplies, but hikers will need to bring their own stove and cooking accessories.

Chittenden Brook Hut

Green Mountain National Forest, Vermont

Just a few miles from Rochester, Vermont, is perhaps the most easily accessible hut on this list: the Chittenden Brook Hut. Located in a small campground down forested Chittenden Brook Road, the quiet structure surrounded by deciduous trees offers a comfy place to relax for up to 10 people.

Abundant sugar maple, paper birch, red oak and American beech display Vermont’s iconic autumn color palette, usually in early- to mid-October. Plus, views of Rochester Valley and the wider Green Mountain National Forest abound.

You can drive all the way to the campground in the fall before the road closes to vehicles or hike in from many of the trails nearby, including the Long Trail, which is just over 2 miles away. Plenty of surrounding trails offer further opportunity to explore.

Francie’s Cabin

Breckenridge, Colorado

It’s no surprise that Francie’s Cabin, located a few miles from Breckenridge, is the most popular in Colorado: It’s spacious, well-outfitted, comfortable, and easily accessible.

The two-story cabin sleeps up to 20 (book single beds or the entire hut) and sits at 11,264 feet among evergreen pine forest. Groves of aspens and low shrubs bring the color and make for picturesque third-season views on the hike up, and just a few steps from the cabin is a wood-fired sauna for ultimate autumn coziness.

Two routes will take you there: Spruce Creek and Aqueduct Roads (2.2 miles) and Crystal Creek Road (1.8 miles), both of which start at Spruce Creek Trailhead. In summer and fall, high-clearance 4WD vehicles may be able to get closer to the cabin via a steep 4×4 road, but access is never guaranteed—most visitors plan to hike in.