Some Colorado Drives
Provided you have your own transportation, there are a number of interesting places to go...
LOCAL DRIVES:
Montezuma:
| The town of Montezuma, at 10400 feet, was once a hub of mining activity. There are many dirt roads, some suitable for passenger cars, but most for 4WD, where you can explore this area. The present town is interesting because it is the only town that is not under intensive development. Indeed, the pavement STOPS at the town's edge! There used to be a nice little cafe (good brownies and cappuchino) called the "Soul House". The picture above was taken from the cafe's deck. Unfortunately, the Soul House is now history. |
| This is a fantastic area for cross country skiing, snowmobiling and snowshoeing in the winter, and hiking, camping and mountain biking in the summer. |
Boreas Pass Road:
| During the mining years at the turn of the 20th century, there were only two ways to get gold and silver ore out of this county, and one of them was by way of a narrow-guage railroad which followed this route over Boreas Pass. This means that this road, although dirt, is an easy grade from Breckenridge to South Park (the REAL South Park...this road is closed to auto traffic from November thru whenever they can get it open in the spring). |
Hamilton Creek:
A very short drive into a high-end subdivision...but the view of the Gore and Ten Mile Ranges is worth it!
Mayflower Gulch (4WD):
| You definitely need a 4WD vehicle for this drive, not too far from the Copper Mountain Ski Resort. Visit the ghost mining camp of Boston, and see the west side of the Ten Mile range from up high! |
Clinton Gulch:
| Park beside the highway and walk beside this lake. Huge Clinton Amphetheater in the background for those with cross country scrambling ability. Note: hike around the OTHER side of the lake is not recommended...trail is intermittent at best. |
Leadville:
One of the highest towns in the United States, and one of the most heavily mined. There's a railroad here that you can ride in the summer. Visit and prospect in a turquoise mine--you keep what you find! (Hint--forget about hammering around in those hard rocks...look around at the base of the mine tailings for turquoise that has washed out by rain!)
An incredible drive up a 14,260 foot peak. The highest road in the United States! Follow the signs from Idaho Springs. The toll booth will collect a per-car fee, but it's worth it! If you've never been up a fourteener before, it will give you some serious respect for that 14,000 foot altitude! Don't do this on your first day here, though. Give your body a break!
LONGER DRIVES:
| Gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. A two and one-half to three-hour drive, but well worth it. In the summer, you can go in over Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous paved highway in the lower 48 States. This area is a National Park for a reason...the scenery is spectacular. In the summer the park is very crowded, but free shuttle busses are available to avoid parking headaches. |
In
the fall, you can hear the bull elk bugling. Incredible.
You have to do this at least once in your life.
Vail: If you have never been to Vail, you should probably go just to say you've been there. As one of the characters in the movie "Aspen Extreme" says, "it looks like the guy who designed Wendy's went crazy there". Nevertheless, there's good shopping and gondola-riding there in the summer (not to mention all the other summer activities) and great skiing / snowboarding in the winter. The ski area is HUGE.
Aspen: Deserving its expensive reputation. Some of the stores are out-of-sight expensive. Real estate simply cannot be had for under a million dollars. But there are reasonably priced stores and restaurants, and you've simply *got* to say you've been there. If you go, be sure to ride the gondola to the top of Aspen Mountain. The scenery up there, contrary to the scenery in town, is incredible. Lots of cultural events. A nice town, very clean, but for me it's too much like a big city.