Our Adventures RV'ing

Our Adventures RV'ing

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

BRECKENRIDGE, COLORADO




September 11-19, 2016

It's no surprise that Breckenridge has been referred to as the perfect mountain town. Full of history and character, Breck shares an incredibly laid-back charm that makes you feel like a local – no matter the season.

Base - 9,603 feet to it's highest peak at 14,271 feet (Quandary Peak).

We stayed at the Tiger Run Resort. A 5 star RV resort just north of the town of Breckenridge off of CO-9. There are a mix of RV spaces and cabins(called chalets) giving a neighborhood feel to the park. Lots of trees separate the sites. There is an indoor pool, Jacuzzi, and gym; making it an all-season resort. It's the only RV park in the area and pricey. Book early if you want to grab a site here, the chalets are taking over a lot of the RV spaces so there isn't as many RV sites as in the past.




Nice landscaping


Premium site

Community fire pit area

Typical site

Creek on the property


Cabins(Chalets)

Newer built Chalet

Our site(Club site)
Our site #263

Clubhouse






Breckenridge Flume Loop-Mountain Biking. We enjoyed this ride so much we did it 4 times while we were here. The perfect distance (total 12 miles) and level of workout plus we could bike to it from our RV park.



Fall-Aspens

Lower Flume trail-Breckenridge


Follow the yellow brick road-Lower Flume trail


We expected weather in Breckenridge for the 1st part of the week. We didn't expect to wake up to a dusting of snow on the peaks. It didn't last all day but it was nice to see while we were here. Reminded us that ski season will be here before we know it.



Friday we went to Vail. They run the gondolas from Vail Village and Lionshead village up to mid-mountain.

Vail village

We hiked the Berry Picker trail from Lionshead base up to lower fireweed trail then across the mountain over to the Mid-vail lodge. A strenuous 4 mile hike that took us a little over 2.5 hours and a 2200 foot elevation gain. Mid-vail lodge was open for lunch; we had a sandwich and a beer then took Gondola One, a free ride, down to Vail village.

Trail to Mid-vail (Berry Picker)

Great views- Vail

Almost to the end.......

Open for lunch

Our ride down-Gondola One


Vail village had their Oktoberfest that weekend. We walked through it but didn't partake in the bier festivities.

Vail village-Oktoberfest
We walked through the village back to our car parked at Lionshead village. A great day at Vail. I liked Vail better then Aspen, maybe because on Friday it wasn't all that busy. It had the Swiss look and feel to it and the pedestrian friendly streets were nicer.

Lionshead village-Vail

Pedestrian streets-Vail



 
We were able to meet up with our former neighbors (Ira and Loretta) who would winter in Scottsdale and spend the summer in Denver. We met them in Frisco for a happy hour dinner at Rio Grande.  

Rio Grande Restaurant- Frisco, CO


Also met with friends of mine from pharmacy school who were in Breckenridge over the weekend. We had a great time at Broken Compass Brewery catching up; we had excellent craft biers and unexpected live music that evening. Two members of the local ski patrol band Blue Monkey 22 performed 2 hours of acoustic music.




My dear friends: Rick and Becky at Broken Compass Brewery



Blue Monkey 22







An end to a memorable week in Breckenridge....... I expect we will return to this area again in our future RV travels.













Thursday, September 15, 2016

Carbondale, Colorado…"Where Rocky Vistas Meet Crystal Waters”

September 9-11, 2016
Carbondale, Colorado/Aspen-Snowmass


We stayed at a small RV park/campground called Gateway RV Park.


It's owned by the town of Carbondale, a short drive off of I-70.  It's a small campground with 16 RV sites to accommodate a wide variety of sized RV's, 11 of the sites are full-hookup and 5 are water/electric.  Only 4 sites (#11,12,13,14) could accommodate up to 45ft rigs. Sites #9 and 10 were max of 40ft. All of their sites were double wide; you had a space for the RV and space next to your site with a picnic bench, fire ring and plenty of space to park the tow vehicle. The park is close to the highway but the noise wasn't a problem for us. It is also right above the river, easily accessible for fishing.





Our site #12 


Sites are well marked and the campground has very nice hosts. They come out to greet you when you arrive, make sure you get into your site and know where everything is within the campground. The campground does have showers and the Wi-Fi was excellent but no laundry. We had good T-Mobile, Verizon and satellite reception. We liked this park, it was close to Glenwood Springs and Aspen-Snowmass.

Carbondale offers miles and miles of hiking and mountain biking just across the highway from the RV Park within the BLM Red Hill Special Recreation Management Area. The RV Park is also located alongside the paved Rio Grande Trail that stretches 44 beautiful miles from Aspen to Glenwood Springs.

The mountain biking/hiking trail we did was across the highway from our RV park called the Red Hill Loop.
I found it to be an advanced trail for biking due to it's steepness and rocky terrain.  I ended up hiking/biking most of the trail. Hauling my bike up the hill on the ascent was a workout but the upper sections and the upper part of the downhill were doable and fun. Although the trails are marked and I made notes, we missed a turn and didn't get to do a portion of the loop which would have been the more flat and intermediate portion of the trail. The lower half of the descent was rated upper intermediate but many sections I had to hike. The trail would be better as a hike and the views at the top are worth the effort to get there.


Flatter sections were nice







On our 2nd day we went to Snowmass Resort, only 18 miles away from our RV park for a hike to the peak. On weekends they run a lift and gondola and if you hike up you get to ride down for free. We always like these hikes. We knew there was and event in the area, the Colorado Tough Mudder, I thought it was at Aspen Resort but when we got to Snowmass it was set up at the base. Lots of people and activity  but we had no problem getting a parking spot in the garage at the base.


Start of the Tough Mudder





Gondola base-getting ready for the hike

Trailhead -Vista Trail to the top of the Gondola
I didn't go the entire distance to the peak but made it to the top of the gondola, 2.2 miles and a lot of elevation gain.



Gondola ride down Snowmass Resort
Mike took the Summit trail to the top, another 2 miles and 1500ft elevation gain at a much steeper grade.



Top of the peak


After the hike we went into Aspen, it was okay, may be better on a weekday. It was Saturday and prime time in Aspen, no chance of getting any outside seating at restaurants. We grabbed some ice cream, walked around and said okay we were here.

Had a great time in Carbondale/Aspen-Snowmass.  There are a lot more places to explore in the area, we just didn't have the time. May have to plan another trip this way. Our next stop Breckenridge(9400ft), expecting cooler temperatures and some weather.

Always Chillin.....