Three weeks down in Colorado, one to go. Difference being the three weeks was spent mostly working, with just a little bit of playing. Whereas the last week we get to proper go play, with a week’s holiday from work 🙂
You could be forgiven for thinking the pictures look remarkably similar, at least they start off that way. We spent a few more days exploring the Keystone, Frisco, Breckenridge triangle, giving me ample opportunity to play some more with my new toy, my Specialized Como e-bike.
Any good bike ride leads to good food and drink, including two of our favorites, Broken Compass brewing and Breckenridge Distillery. I can highly recommend The Godfather cocktail at the distillery. “Revenge is a dish (or a cocktail) best served cold”. Aged blended whiskey and amaretto, stirred and poured over ice, with personalized delivery in a wooden keg to maximize the hit of applewood smoke. And drama. And 1SE video opportunities.
One of the quieter cycling routes took me up to the mountain hamlet of Montezuma. With no pub or post office, it’s pushing it to call this place a village. Even the Americans wouldn’t have the audacity to call it a city. Actually, I just looked it up. According to Wikipedia it’s a ‘town’. Population: 65. You get the picture.
Lovely as it was to pay a short visit, Montezuma is probably not where it’s happening. Given we’re looking at coming back later in the year for some autumnal leaf-peeping, we had a good scout around for other Airbnb options. So the bike riding became a bit of a house hunting initiative, lots of fun cycling around and poking at the outside of houses.
Darren unfortunately had to spend a bit of time recuperating from a cold of man-flu proportions. Luckily he still had the balcony to gaze out upon the lake wistfully. While my e-bike pride and joy had pride of place in the living room for charging.
Another Colorado fan favorite would have to be Rocky Mountain National Park. During Covid times, they introduced timed entry into the park, whereby you have to book in advance a two hour time slot for when you want to enter the park. And then they kept it going afterwards. Which means you and everyone else who booked for the same two hour time slot are generally going to arrive around the same time at the beginning of the slot, resulting in a lot of waiting in line.
Queuing is not one of my fortes at the best of times. Luckily, there is a loophole. Just get there before 9am and you’re good. Simples. Even with a two hour drive for us to get there, this was very do-able. And the later you leave it, the busier it gets. So if there’s one day worth setting your alarm for early, this is it.
Next up, Crested Butte. An impossibly beautiful mountain/lake setting that is classic Colorado. We were last here on our very first Covid road trip three years ago, and did one of my favorite hikes ever. This time around, more bike porn I’m afraid.
We did separate bike rides so whoever got back first got to choose the pub. That would be me then. I opted for Eldo brewery & tap room… “a sunny place for shady people”. Complete with sunny balcony, that’ll do nicely.
One of the things we miss about living in the UK, is being so close to Europe. Yup, that ability to immerse yourself into a different culture, scenery and climate at the drop of a hat should not be underestimated.
Some of our most memorable European holidays included hiking to mountain huts or lodges, in the Alps, the Dolomites, even the Spanish Sierra Nevada. You could only get to these places by hiking into remote mountain locations. And once there, you were transported to a world more basic than we’re used to. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a definite step up from backpacking, you have your own bed, food and drink. (And let’s face it, the older you get, the more averse to camping hardships you get; at least I do). But in these huts, we had a sense of camaraderie with others who had also hiked in, with their own sense of adventure, their own stories to tell. A feeling of escaping from the monotony of work to the fresh air, with nothing to worry about other than the freedom of where tomorrow’s hiking would take us. And there was a glass of wine or two on hand to toast to that.
There is nothing equivalent in the US. There are some basic mountain huts in Colorado but they are just an itty bitty step up from backpacking, the main difference being a roof over your head vs carrying your tent. Nothing where you can be treated to a good meal and bed at the end of a day’s hiking in the mountains. That is, until Hayden Mountain Backpacking Lodge came along. It’s early days for HMBL and unfortunately no other hikers on the night we hiked in and stayed over. But that remote sense of being far from the beaten track, having walked in on your own two feet (one of those feet being, for me – let’s face it, a little delicate to say the least), had that same element of accomplishment and remoteness without hardship.
With the benefit of time, we spent a few days roadtripping the route home, instead of the mad rush to do a thousand miles in a day and a half. After working our way through Colorado via Crested Butte and Ouray, we hit up Moab in Utah.
After the blues and greens of Colorado lakes and mountains, Utah is very orange, red and brown. If you’re ever doing one of those pictures where the pixels are made from individual photos, Utah could be your staple for those sandy ochre tones. Arches National Park was first on the list but unfortunately had limited cycling options. Luckily we’ve been there before, so didn’t feel like we were missing out, and the nearby cycle paths offered ample miles of alternatives.
Dead Horse Point State Park was a new one on us. And definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area. The western rim trail offered stunning views and an awesome walk for me while Darren hit up some mountain biking trails.
Last but not least on the way home was Zion national park.
The most fabulous aspect of Zion is that much of it is closed off to traffic, allowing only shuttle buses and bikes to use the road. Yes, you read that right – bikes. Genius idea. What an experience to cruise along the virtually empty roads surrounded by sheer rock walls of awesomeness.
Again, the best advice I can give is to go early. The US National Parks are a downfall of their own success. As we were leaving, the park was starting to look like a zoo. With humans as the exhibits.
Go early… or do yourself a favor and go to a state park instead. Go early… or go home. Or be like us. Go early AND go home. Destination California.