Also, possibly Pike’s Peak area. Does anyone have any tips or recommendations on low cost or free activities in any of these areas. Kind of an adventure group, we like fishing, hiking, kayaking, almost anything outdoors, but willing to consider museums or cultural places. Thanks!
White water raft under the gorge its great fun. Also when in
Denver there is a six flags worth checking out. Denver also has an aquarium, not fantastic but OK. Nothing is going to be low cost or free while you are in the mountains. Keystone will probably have some kind of entertainment while you are there (concert, or other event.) Denver museum of Art is worth checking out.
I was in Denver in April for 2 weeks for a wedding, so we were also looking for low-cost things to do. That was kind of hard to do except for the sight-seeing which was fabulous. I would recommend driving out to Rocky Mountain Nat’l Forest. It cost $20 per car for a 2-day pass, but we just paid it to drive through. It was very well worth it. There was snow at that time and we went through Estes Park, a very quaint wonderful little town, to get to the entrance of the park. Be sure and take Trail Ridge Rd (I think that’s the name). It is the highest elevated highway in the US and gorgeous scenery. The Royal Gorge is really something to see. It’s near Colorado Springs. There’s a train that goes down into it, but is rather pricey. And just walking around downtown Denver was very enjoyable. It’s very historical with lots to do and see.
Ya planning on spending any time in DENVER? let’s see, assuming you arrive on schedule, and actually get 7 days, one each for Breck, Copper, Keystone, That’s three, Rocky should be about two…cause it’s a two hour drive (optimally) to get up there, then spend a day, you might want two…and Royal Gorge is a few hours to the south. If you want to actually spend a full day, you might want to give that an extra day, too. It’s a pretty packed week!
Starting at Royal Gorge, you want to cross the bridge. There are some rafting companies that run through there…I don’t think it’s cheap, but it sure is fun! There’s a funicular, and stuff. You can feed the deer in the parking lot at the bridge.
Colorado Springs/Pike’s Peak merits almost a week by itself.
Rocky Mtn. Park, you pay by the car to get in, and can go hiking in a number of places. My favorite was the Lily Pad Lake hike. If you are so adventurous you want to scale Long’s Peak, you need to start REALLY early in the morning. It’s always adviseable to be DOWN by 10 am. There have been a few lightning strikes on the LOWER paths this year. (down LOWER than Long’s Peak.) Biking is good. I THINK you can go biking in the Park, but I’m not sure on that one. You might have to stay on the roads to do so.
Summit County: LOTS of hiking and fishing…Gold medal waters along the Blue River. Lots of little ponds up in the mountains. There’s a whole bunch of hikes up Buffalo Mountain where you can take your fishing poles up and catch what you can…You get fishing licenses at City Market (or maybe you can get them through the tourist info office, where you should get Topo maps and hiking maps – at the Outlet Center behind Wendy’s)
Kyaking in Keystone Lake (which, by the way, is only about two feet deep!) or Green Mountain Reservoir. Bikes can be rented at any of the ski shops. We have a really nice bike path that goes most of the way around Dillon Reservoir, and then you finish the round on Swan Mtn. Road. Trails also go all the way to Keystone, Breck, Frisco, on through to Copper, and then over Vail Pass, all the way to Vail, if you’re really into biking. Rafting available here, too. For museums…in Summit, there is a Historic Park in Frisco, and a couple of museums in Breck, and Dillon. And there are music venues all over…The tent in Breckenridge…I think they have concerts almost every day. Free concert at Dillon Amphitheater, Sat night. Aug. 2 it’s Phat Daddy – 70s type music. And there’s always a music and art fest at Keystone on the weekends.
Not exactly “low” cost, but if you’re in Breckenridge… be sure to ride the alpine slide on the mountain! That’s fun. 🙂
You can hike St. Mary’s Glacier, closer to Denver or Hanging Lakes, closer to Glenwood Canyon.
The Renaissance Fair will still be here for part of August. That is between Denver and Colorado Springs.
Oh, I know great places! Like the Colorado History Museum in Downtown Denver! All the places you menchened are mainy ski areas! So if you have ski stuff already then skiing is only
$5.00 for kid and $10.00 for adults!
But also, ski season isn’t till October! Rocky Mountain nation Park has a great trail that leads to a swimmimg whole! Yes, it is cold at first, but you get used to it! Also Baily, CO is in between Denver and Breckenridge, so you may want to stop there to pick up some good food at the Cut-thote cafe and then go on a horse back ride at CM out fitters! So have a fun time! By the way, CM outfitters is $10.00 per person.
I would highly recommend Hanging Lake. It’s just east of Glenwood Springs on I-70. Or you continue to go west past Copper, on the otherside of Vail. It’s a beautiful hike up to a lake at the top. You can even go a little further up to the waterfall that feeds into the lake. You could then even go into Glenwood for the day and do some hiking around there or enjoy the hot springs. Well worth the visit!!