Booth Creek Trail is in the southern Gore Range

Gore Range

The Gore Range is a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of north central Colorado in the United States. The range runs for approximately 60 miles northwest-to-southeast, through western Grand and Summit counties, and eastern Routt and Eagle counties...

, part of the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

 in the US state of Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

. It is located in the Eagles Nest Wilderness

Eagles Nest Wilderness

The Eagles Nest Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in the Gore Range near Vail, Copper Mountain, Frisco, Silverthorne, and Heeney, in Summit and Eagle Counties Colorado. Eagles Nest Wilderness falls within the jurisdiction of Dillon Ranger District and Holy Cross Ranger District, White...

, Holy Cross Ranger District, White River National Forest

White River National Forest

White River National Forest is a National Forest in northwest Colorado. It is named after the White River that passes through it. It also contains the Flat Tops Wilderness Area, largely considered the birthplace of the U.S...

, Eagle County

Eagle County, Colorado

Eagle County is the thirteenth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado in the United States. The county is named for the Eagle River. The county population was 41,659 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is the Town of Eagle...

. Booth Creek Trail is north of Interstate 70

Interstate 70

Interstate 70 is an Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a Park and Ride near Baltimore, Maryland. It was the first Interstate Highway project in the United States. I-70 approximately traces the path of U.S. Route 40 east of the Rocky...

 in Vail

Vail, Colorado

The Town of Vail is a Home Rule Municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,589 in 2005. The town was established and built as the base village to Vail Ski Resort, with which it was originally conceived...

.
Booth Creek Trail ascends six miles and 3,000 feet from East Vail, at 8,400
feet, to Booth Lake, elevation 11,480 feet. Along the way, there are dozens of cataracts and small waterfalls as well as a major waterfall dropping sixty feet over a ledge.
Scarlet paintbrush, Castilleja

Castilleja

Castilleja, commonly known as Indian paintbrush or Prairie-fire, is a genus of about 200 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas from Alaska south to the Andes, northern Asia, and one species as far west as the Kola Peninsula in Siberia...

 miniata, meaning red colored, grows in meadows at the side of the trail. The sturdy spikes hold bracts of double-lobed flowers ranging in color from purple to sunset pink. Paintbrush is hemiparasitic, drawing nutrients from the roots of adjacent plants.

In the darker conifer forest above Booth Falls, look in more shaded areas of fertile soil along the stream banks for dark purple lobes of monkshood. A poisonous plant, Monkshood sap was used by early hunters to poison arrowheads. Aconitum

Aconitum

Aconitum , known as aconite, monkshood, wolfsbane, leopard's bane, women's bane, Devil's helmet or blue rocket, is a genus of over 250 species of flowering plants belonging to the buttercup family .-Overview:These herbaceous perennial plants are chiefly natives of the mountainous parts of the...

 dephinifolium, also known as wolfbane, is a member of
the buttercup family.

Among the cool, sheltered rock formations along Booth Creek search for the
blooms of Columbine

Aquilegia

Aquilegia is a genus of about 60-70 species of perennial plants that are found in meadows, woodlands, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals of their flowers.-Etymology:The genus name Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle , because...

. The Blue columbine, Aquilegia

Aquilegia

Aquilegia is a genus of about 60-70 species of perennial plants that are found in meadows, woodlands, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals of their flowers.-Etymology:The genus name Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle , because...

 caerulea, is the state
flower of Colorado. Columbine is named after the Latin for dove

Dove

Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerines. In general terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably...

, columba,
for its delicate winged petals that often hover over pools of water.