08/22/17 - Day 141 - Vail, CO
One of the activities I'd been looking forward to during my Denver visit was the opportunity to see what a ski resort looked like without snow. Vail is one of my favorite resorts and only a couple hours away from Denver. I headed out of Denver early to get breakfast at a great cafe in Silverthorn (Mountain Lyon Cafe - their green chili is so good) and made it into Vail around mid-morning.
Vail looks a lot different in the summer. First of all, it's free to park at the resort parking garages vs. the $40 a day charged during ski season. The place isn't blanketed with snow and there are flowers all over.
But I was surprised how quiet it was. There aren't a lot of tourists and several of the businesses are having specials in order to attract the ones who were there. Unfortunately for them I wasn't really in the market for what they were selling.
The lift tickets were a lot cheaper as well, a little over $30 vs. +$100 during the season.
Vail puts together a few attractions at the top of lifts, mostly for kids, like a short roller coaster, zip lines, and a huge jungle gym. I skipped all theses and simply walked the trails. Most of these trails are paths that likely disappear in the winter, but some of the larger ones are ski runs, less the snow. I recognized a few of them even in their summer state.
While there wasn't any snow on the ski runs, there were a few surrounding peaks that still had some cover.
One of the reasons I like Vail so much are the mountain views that accompany the runs. They look good in green as well.
It was interesting to note how different the weather was at peak here versus Mt Evans or Pikes Peak. I was down to a T shirt, no jacket by the time I reached the Wildwood summit. This is actually my favorite part of the mountain when there's snow.
Deeper in some of the wooded trails I ran across a lot of bird activity. Unfortunately the pine trees were so thick and tall it was tough to get clean photo of them. I got a shot of what I think is a chickadee here, but no much else.
Back in town I noticed there were a lot of larger birds hanging around - magpies. I don't see these in Florida but they're all over Colorado. I think they're super pretty but the locals don't seem to care fore them. They are pretty loud and fairly cantankerous. Maybe if I had to deal with them all the time I'd feel the same.
In summary, Vail is awesome even in the summer. It was one of my favorite hiking spots during my Denver visit.
Vail looks a lot different in the summer. First of all, it's free to park at the resort parking garages vs. the $40 a day charged during ski season. The place isn't blanketed with snow and there are flowers all over.
But I was surprised how quiet it was. There aren't a lot of tourists and several of the businesses are having specials in order to attract the ones who were there. Unfortunately for them I wasn't really in the market for what they were selling.
The lift tickets were a lot cheaper as well, a little over $30 vs. +$100 during the season.
Vail puts together a few attractions at the top of lifts, mostly for kids, like a short roller coaster, zip lines, and a huge jungle gym. I skipped all theses and simply walked the trails. Most of these trails are paths that likely disappear in the winter, but some of the larger ones are ski runs, less the snow. I recognized a few of them even in their summer state.
While there wasn't any snow on the ski runs, there were a few surrounding peaks that still had some cover.
One of the reasons I like Vail so much are the mountain views that accompany the runs. They look good in green as well.
It was interesting to note how different the weather was at peak here versus Mt Evans or Pikes Peak. I was down to a T shirt, no jacket by the time I reached the Wildwood summit. This is actually my favorite part of the mountain when there's snow.
Deeper in some of the wooded trails I ran across a lot of bird activity. Unfortunately the pine trees were so thick and tall it was tough to get clean photo of them. I got a shot of what I think is a chickadee here, but no much else.
Back in town I noticed there were a lot of larger birds hanging around - magpies. I don't see these in Florida but they're all over Colorado. I think they're super pretty but the locals don't seem to care fore them. They are pretty loud and fairly cantankerous. Maybe if I had to deal with them all the time I'd feel the same.
In summary, Vail is awesome even in the summer. It was one of my favorite hiking spots during my Denver visit.
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