Right before the COVID19 pandemic hit the United States I traveled to Denver, Colorado to visit my friend, Dasha. I now feel so lucky that I got to see her before the shut down. I even got to check off a bucket list item—snowshoeing!
After my first winter living in Florida, I was craving some craggy, snow-topped mountains!
I had a full 3-day weekend in February to explore the mountains with Dasha before travel restrictions went into place. We hiked Mount Falcon Park and we explored Breckenridge and the surrounding area. Read and see all the glorious photos from my last major trip in this post.
Mount Falcon Park
When I visited Dasha a year ago, we hiked Realization Point and explored Red Rocks. This time there was snow on the ground and an opportunity to explore some real Colorado hiking.
We started off with a drive outside of Denver into Jefferson County. Dasha drove us up some meandering back roads until we came to a parking lot at Mount Falcon Park.
There are a few different trailheads and hikes through the park. We started out on Castle Trail and then took Parmalee Trail for the majority of our hike. Parmalee Trail is a fun 2.3 mile hike that dips down into a small valley and then back up again.
It was a gorgeous, sunny day. The trail was lightly packed with snow and I was grateful to have poles to balance each step. Dasha was rocking it with her microspikes. I found myself envious of Dasha's spikes—she's starting to get into all the cool, Denverian hiking gear!
The views of the lower hills to the Rockies were rolling and beautiful.
I also admired the evergreen trees here—green and red and sometimes rotting and dead!
As we hiked, we talked about some of the difficult experiences going on in our lives. Connecting and bonding as friends is best done in nature—at least for Dasha and me! There's something really soothing and healing about the rhythmic crunch of snow and play of light between the branches overhead.
Walking up Tower Trail, we found someone’s partially melted snow creation. I decided to fix up my new friend!
We also found some platforms and overlook structures along the trail. I loved these spots, as they were perfectly placed for some great views!
Sexy Pizza and Voodoo Donuts
What do you do when you burn a bunch of calories? Replace them, of course!
After all the hiking, Dasha and I met up with Kate for some very, very sexy pizza. This spot in Denver is actually called Sexy Pizza!
The last time I visited a Voodoo Donuts it was in Portland, Oregon. My very first posts on this blog were about my trip to Portland. Now how is that for full circle?
In all honesty, after being punched in the face with sugar, I felt a little gross. These donuts are so sugar-rich!
Buffalo Overlook
The next day, Dasha and I took a little roadtrip out to Breckenridge, CO. On the way, we passed through Golden. You'll remember I visited Golden with Dasha last year when I visited on her birthday weekend.
This time, we stopped by a roadside herd of buffalo! The buffalo here are managed by Denver Mountain Parks. They were pretty awesome to see.
Apparently, seeing buffalo is a theme when I hang out with Dasha. The last time I saw them was with her in Kentucky! It was another birthday celebration weekend on a road trip we took outside of Nashville, Tennessee.
Breckenridge
Breckenridge town and ski resort are a super popular destination for tourists and nearby residents alike. About 1.5 hours West of Denver, the scenery on the drive to Breckenridge is amazing!
Photo by Dasha
The town itself is bustling with snowpants-swishing pedestrians.
There are lots of shops to check out there. There's also some neat old boarded up "museums" and other little tourist gems around the S Main Street drag.
What was interesting about the feel of this town was its "frozen" feel. And I don't mean the movie Frozen, I mean the locked in time feel. This was late February, remember, and there were still Holiday decorations strung around town. Between the snow, icicles, and decorations, I felt like I was in "Christmas Town."
We visited the Welcome Center to get a map and some information on things to do in the area. We learned that you don't have to be a skier or snowboarder to enjoy the slopes. Dasha and I were able to ride the BreckConnect gondola for free up to Peak 8.
At Peak 8, we wanted to have a sit-down lunch overlooking the slopes. Robbie's Tavern was too long of a wait for us so we opted for a quicker meal through the cantina next door. We had packaged sandwiches heated up for us and matcha tea as we watched people coming down the slopes. Definitely some good people watching!
After maybe an hour or so we went back down on the gondola.
This time someone else joined us for the ride—yes the goldola has individual quarters but anyone can hop right in!
Boreas Pass, White River National Forest
We made our way to the car after the slopes to drive up to Boreas Pass. I was determined to find a snow-packed hike to test out the snow-shoes Dasha borrowed from a friend. The Welcome Center told us Boreas Pass was a good, short hike for it in White River National Park.
I was being (probably annoyingly) persistent about wanting to use the snow shoes. Dasha was a trooper, supporting me in this determined pursuit. Snowshoeing is a bucket list item of mine and this felt like my chance to try it!
After checking out the wrong trailhead at first, we eventually made it to the parking lot for Boreas Pass. I strapped on the snowshoes and Dasha opted to just use her microspikes. Although it wasn't completely necessary to wear snowshoes, it certainly made the trek a little easier. I was able to tramp right on top of deep snow—glorious!
We cracked up later over the silly poses I did while in my snowshoes. I was essentially making fun of my own excitement. There were many imagined SNL skits created around the character “Snowshoe Sally” on the drive home later. Hahahaha.
We trekked up the main length of the initial path and then rounded a corner revealing some of the most amazing views I've seen in a long time.
This scene nearly knocked me off my snowshoes!
We both could not get enough of what we were seeing. We took so many photos!
I was amazed that we barely did any hiking in order to see these views. We drove most of the way up and then hiked maybe 20 minutes—and boom! We were there.
This low effort, big reward is just one reason why I really enjoy the hikes Dasha and I take when I visit her in Colorado.
In Conclusion
Wow! The hiking in Colorado is just amazing. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to hike, snowshoe, and see all the gorgeous views I did—and with my best friend!
This wasn't the end of my trip, though! There's still another part to gush about. After this glorious day of mountains and hiking, we explored an ice castle. Then I ate one of the most satisfying meals of my life in a really neat little Colorado town nearby.
Tune in next post to hear all about it!
