Summer Adventures in Colorado
In August we set out for a long weekend adventure in Summit County Colorado. We love being able to escape the terribly hot and humid August weather in Kansas City to the much crisper mountain temperatures in the summer. Brit and I set out for the road trip with our friend Tyler Tuesday evening after work. We planned to get some biking in Colorado on some of the amazing trails and all packed up our bikes and bike gear and hit the road. We spent the night in Goodland Kansas and then continued driving the next morning until we reached Frisco, Colorado. Before heading to town we stopped off for our first hike to stretch our legs at Mayflower Gulch. It had started to drizzle off and on as we got out to start the hike. The trail head is set at 10,996 ft of elevation and the trail is a total of about 6 miles round trip.
The hike starts on a relatively flat path winding through towering pines. We welcomed the crisp mountain air and smell of pine as we began the hike. About 5 minutes into the hike we were all already starting to feel winded as we weren’t yet acclimated to the higher elevation having just been in Kansas a few hours earlier.
We made our way through a forested path that opened up into a valley with views of old mining cabin remains.
You can walk up to and explore inside the cabins which is pretty cool.
As we were exploring the cabins it started to rain harder! We took shelter inside one of the cabins to wait out some of the rain and luckily it cleared pretty quickly. We found a scenic spot right by the cabins to have a picnic lunch and enjoy the much cooler temperatures from what we’ve been used to.
There were also many beautiful wildflowers along the entire trail to enjoy.
As we continued on a bit further from the cabins it became very steep and we all admittedly were starting to feel pretty tired after the long drive and getting acclimated to the elevation change. We decided to skip going to the summit so we could head back to town and rest for a little bit before our next adventure.
We found a great Airbnb very close to downtown Frisco. We got some coffee from downtown Frisco and dropped off our bags at our place before starting our next adventure, our first bike ride of the trip! We set out for a paved bike trail connecting Frisco to downtown Breckenridge. The trail is about 18 miles out and bike with slight elevation gain. We stopped once we got to Breckenridge to explore the town for a bit and get some happy hour before riding back to Frisco. We had to also get a mid bike ride snack at the cookie shop.
Once we get back to Frisco, we stopped at our favorite spot for dinner, Prosit!. Prosit is a very cute and cozy German pub style restaurant. There’s a wide selection of German beers, sausages, pretzels and sandwiches. We got a sausage sampler platter along with a Bavarian pretzel and German pints. It was very tasty and felt well deserved after a day of hiking and biking!
The next morning we set out for another bike ride, this time around lake Dillon. This trail is about 18 miles in total and has some very steep and challenging sections! The bike ride offers amazing views of the lake for the first few miles of the trail. We then started to make our way towards Keystone where we stopped to get some coffee, have a picnic lunch and enjoy a very scenic bridge looking over Snake river surrounded by towering pines.
From Keystone we made our way back towards lake Dillion and struggled up very steep and seemingly never ending switchbacks until we made it to Sapphire point. We felt incredibly accomplished making it up this hill while still adjusting to the altitude. We were also devastated when e bike riders effortlessly sped past us haha.
We stopped for a break once we made it to the top which was a much welcomed rest. There are a couple of great things about Sapphire Point: enjoying the panoramic views of Lake Dillon and hanging out with the many chipmunks darting around the area trying to snag some food from the visitors.
We didn’t want to say goodbye to the adorable chipmunks, but after hanging out there awhile we got back on our bikes and finished out our ride. From Sapphire point we had one section of the trail that was on the road and was a very steep decline. It was a little nerve wracking riding those speeds downhill with cars right next to us but we all did alright. We rested for a bit back at our Airbnb after the ride and then decided to head out for one last adventure of the day. We decided to make our way to the Vail Pass trail which is about a 10 mile all downhill trail. This adventure took almost no physical effort and was so rewarding for the epic views so we figured it was a perfect thing to do after our challenging bike ride this morning. We took turns going in pairs riding down while the other person picked up at the bottom of the trail. Tyler got to enjoy going down twice. We were pretty wiped after all the biking of the day so head back to our place to relax the rest of the evening. The next morning we set out for our last hike of the trip, Sniktou. This is a tough hike! Sniktou is a 4 mile roundtrip hike near Loveland Pass.
We parked at Loveland Pass continental divide. Right off the bat the hike is very steep! And at about 13,000 ft of elevation we were immediately struggling to breathe!
This hike offers amazing views the entire time. We definitely needed quite a few rest breaks on the way up to catch our breath and enjoy the views. As we got closer and closer to the summit we started to see panoramic views of the surrounding mountains.
We reached one summit of the hike after about a mile. A mile does not seem like it would be that hard but with the steep grade and high elevation this mile took us awhile and wore us out! The summit was insanely windy! The views were so amazing that we did not feel the need to go the extra mile to the real end of the hike as the views would not be a ton different and we were tired enough after the first mile. So we enjoyed our accomplishment making it to this windy summit!
We made our way back down which seemed almost as hard as going up as we had to really be careful not to slip and fall with the loose rocks and steep grade. We felt that we got enough of a workout in for the day so spent the rest of our afternoon exploring nearby towns. We first went to Vail to visit some shops and get some coffee.
We then headed back over to Breckenridge to spend the rest of the day. We stopped at Breckenridge brewery and enjoyed some happy hour on the front patio while listening to some live music. We then found some dinner and walked through the downtown and by the river. Breckenridge has such a cute downtown it’s a great place to hang out and explore for a bit.
The next morning was unfortunately our last morning before starting our drive back home. We enjoyed one last breakfast at Butterhorn bakery in downtown Frisco. We sat out on the patio to enjoy the mountain air a little longer before enduring the midwest heat and humidity. We were sad to leave but loved the adventures we got to experience!