Hot Hot Colorado Vacation 2012 Pt. 3: A Tale of Two Hikes

Much of our Colorado vacation was spent laying around my parent's house, reading books, entertaining the kids (or leaving them to be entertained by the grandparents), playing board games late into the night, and generally being quite sedentary. However, we also had our moments of activity. We went on two separate hikes, in two very different parts of the state. Both were beautiful, and both fun.

Hike #1: Castlewood Canyon, June 28th

We went on this hike just a day after arriving in town. I figured, after all the driving we'd done for two days, that it would be a great relief to get out in the open and stretch our legs. We decided to go to Castlewood Canyon State Park, which is about an hour southeast of Denver. You might think there aren't a lot of mountains east of Denver, but this canyon does indeed exist there! I'd also hiked Castlewood a few years before with some of my extended family, and thought it would be fun to repeat the experience with my whole family (Nathan and Aurora weren't present last time).

The hike was invigorating, and we got to see some beautiful scenery, but we were pretty wiped out by the end...even though it was only about a mile long! It was pretty hot and sunny the day we went hiking (mid 90s, with significant humidity; I suspect the wildfires were adding additional heat into the air). There also isn't a lot of shade on the hike, so we spent the walk getting a little sizzled. However, the kids were able to wade through Cherry Creek, which runs shallowly but briskly through the canyon, so they ultimately enjoyed themselves.

We ended our hike by climbing up the old Castlewood Dam, which penned in Cherry Creek last century. During a flood in 1933, however, the dam burst and remains in disrepair to this day. Walking through it gave me the feeling of being in one of Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings films, in that I was marching over the crumbled remnants of a society long gone. Only, you know, I was in CO on a family vacation, not in Middle Earth. Yes, I am a dork.

The kids atop the dam

Hike #2: Breckenridge Ski Resort, July 2nd

 This hike was Nathan's idea, but we all happily went along with it. Nathan skied a lot with his family while he was growing up; he misses it a lot sometimes. His one big wish for our Colorado vacation this year was to travel into the Rocky Mountains, visit one of the bigger ski resorts, and take a ride on a chair lift. Even if there was no snow, we figured there would still be plenty of beautiful alpine scenery. We looked around at a few different locations, and finally settled on Breckenridge because of its beauty and its free gondola ride up the mountain to the main resort area. We thought the kids would love that.

And love it they did! They'd never traveled by gondola before, and were squealing with delight for much of the trip. I admit to having a fear of heights, which did make the trip a little nerve-racking for me, but I loved the view! However, the gondola did get a little hot with the sunlight reflecting off all the glass. That probably isn't an issue for the skiers, though.

Once we reached the top of the resort, we bought tickets for the chairlift, which would take us further up the mountain by another few thousand feet. We were a little tempted to stay at the resort; apparently, during the summer, Breckenridge opens a Summer Fun Park, with lots of rides and activities to attract day-trippers during the slow summer season. They had an alpine slide, a maze, gold panning, pony rides, bungee rides, miniature golf, a mini roller coaster, and more. However, on this trip, we decided to eschew the rest and stick to our original plan: the chair lift.

And what a trip it was!

The view was spectacular; the cool breeze blowing through our hair, equally spectacular. When we reached the top, the view was the most spectacular thing we'd seen all day! It was the perfect place for a scenic hike.

The hike itself was a short one, but it was heavily sloped (ski, resort, duh), and the thin air left us a tad breathless at times. But it was cool and moist; we kept feeling droplets of rain, and our feet kept sinking into the deep spongy earth. It was a very different kind of hike than the ones we take on the dusty Arizona trails!

This is pretty much the sweetest picture ever

Snow! In July! It was totally gross, dirty snow, but it still made Lorelai excited to climb around on it!

After we finished the hike, we reluctantly descended the hill in the chair lift. A sudden, intensely cool breeze smacked us in the face on the way down; it was a sign that a storm was on the way!

 

In retrospect, we probably should have heeded this warning and gone all the way down the hill; but the kids wanted to ride the gondola again! Unfortunately, due to visible lightning, the gondola and the chair lifts both closed for the day, and we were "stranded" at the Fun Park. We had to wait about half an hour for a company bus to climb the hill and shuttle us down.

We managed to do some sightseeing down in town as well; after a quick outdoor lunch, we walked up and down Main Street in Breckenridge (the "Old Town" are with all the touristy shops). The girls loved it; we were able to duck into a small toy store and buy some candy there, and we got to see lots of neat old buildings. We also saw this:

The whole trip had us dreaming of a return to Breckenridge someday; perhaps for an overnight stay, and then a day or so partying at the Summer Fun Park. Or better yet (for Nate, anyway!), we could come during the Season, and we could hit the ski slopes! Disclaimer: I am not a skier. However, I would do it for my family! Maybe I'd go cross-country somewhere...

 We decided to take a more out-of-the-way route back to Denver: we went over Loveland Pass, the highest in the area. Nate's family took this narrow, steep, winding road many times on the way to their ski getaways, and we wanted to say we'd breached treeline on this trip! We got to see several hidden towns in the mountains that were breathtaking in their beauty. And the view from the top was awesome; we felt like we were on top of the world.

 As you can imagine, our legs were pretty tuckered out by the end of this day, what with all the traipsing around in a thinner atmosphere than we're used to. However, we wouldn't have traded this day in Breckenridge for anything. As much as we've come to love Arizona, there is a part of Nathan and myself that still loves Colorado, and sorely misses it at times. These cool, green memories will sustain us while we sweat through the rest of our long summer in Sahuarita.