After our last visit here 2 years ago Breckenridge made our list of places we would definitely make a return visit. Our plans this year drew us so close to Breckenridge that we decided to spend a week here. We stayed again at Tiger Run but chose a larger and more upgraded site called a Deluxe premium site. Check out my
last post of our stay at Breckenridge for general park amenities. Here are a few pictures of our site on this trip.
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| Site #329 |
We ended up here about a week earlier then our last visit and still happened to be here for this years Breckenridge Oktoberfest.
After a beer in town we headed over to the gondola station in town and rode the free ride to base camp at Peak 8 where we could start our hike up to the top of the Colorado Superchair and the Vista house.
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| Swinger trail |
We chose the Swinger trail, about 4 miles to the top and an elevation gain of 1240 feet. We started at 9965ft and finished at 11,195ft. All of our time spent in Salt Lake City, skiing, mountain biking and hiking the high elevation peaks in the Wasatch made this hike seem easy. The hike is actually a downhill bike trail but is open to hiking and biking. We didn't see too many mountain bikers on the trail and the trail had a lot of room for sharing. We stopped at the Vista house to share a sandwich and have a well deserved 2nd beer before heading back down. The nice thing about this hike is we could ride the chair down from the top and then pick up the gondola back down the mountain. The Colorado Superchair is not free if you want to ride it to the top but if you hike to the top they don't have scanners and don't check so the ride down is free.
We also hiked the McCullough Gulch Trail. Great hike up to an alpine lake and a waterfall about 1/2 way into the hike. A moderate trail that did have a little rock scrambling at least to the 1st lake. The trail goes beyond the 1st lake to a 2nd lake but the trail becomes more advanced after the 1st lake so we opted not to go further.
The fall leaves were abundant on the hike.
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| The trail begins with double track |
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| Some rock scrambling |
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| Cairns to guide you |
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| Small waterfall |
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| 1st lake |
Great fall colors.
After a fantastic week in Breckenridge we moved on to Buena Vista, CO where we were going to attend the Newmar CO State Chapter Rally. We enjoy attending these rallies; it is a great way to meet other Newmar owners for socializing and sharing travel stories. The rally was held at the
Arrowhead Point Campground 5 miles outside of Buena Vista. The park had 50amp full hook up sites that were spacious. We had a back in site that was easy to get in and out although the roads around the resort can be tight but if taken slow are maneuverable. It was a basic park and okay for a night or two.
Besides a visit to Buena Vista we went to the town of Salida, 30 miles south of Buena Vista. The town is known for its art community and I had fun walking the streets and visiting many of the shops. It is also along the Arkansas river and the community has built a paved trail along the river which was fun to walk on. I found this great shop called
The Bungled Jungle, you can't not buy something here but just walking through the store and meeting the owner is worth a visit
Our group went on a boat ride at Twin Lakes which is one of two ways of getting to the historic
Interlaken hotel/ Dexter House. By boat or a 9 mile out and back hike to get to it, there is no road access out there. Fun to walk around and since it was originally built in the late 1800's I was amazed at the detail and the facilities it had back then.
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| Twin Lakes Resevoir |
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| Door hinges with a lot of detail |
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| Intricate wood work |
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| bathroom |
Next stop: The Land of Enchantment: Taos/Santa Fe, New Mexico
