Beyond the gig: exploring Colorado ski towns
- Kaitlyn S
- Sep 22, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 29, 2024
Recently I went to Summit County for a photography job. Summit County includes Breckenridge, Frisco, Dillon and Keystone. It is less than two hours to get there, but it can still be a trek to drive up I-70 into the mountains and fight the nearly constant traffic of trucks, tourists and avid adventurers. The job was a family reunion, not my own, that was about half a day of being at the event, but, as I often do, I decided to expand the trip to include some personal time (and to avoid driving home in the dark, oh deer).
The event itself was in Breckenridge. As a Coloradoan, I had been to Breckenridge many times throughout my life including just a few months ago, so I looked into some of the neighboring mountain towns to explore. Now Breckenridge is a great resort town in the summer. There are lots of shops on Main Street. There are bike paths and hiking trails. There is the gondola that is running throughout the day to take rider to the top to take in the views, drop of hikers and bikers that want to wander back down or people who just want a scenic ride. However with the number of times I have been there, I just was not sure that there was anything new for me to do and hopeful that other resort towns would offer similar, but different charm. Twenty minutes from Breckenridge, around the southern edge of Dillon Reservoir, is Keystone, a popular ski resort in the winter.
Prior to my trip I searched for trails to hike, events to go to and other things to do. I found a few hikes that looked interesting and within the length and difficult I was willing to do, but there were not many. There are several hikes in the area that are moderate or difficult and are six to twenty miles. Not my cup of tea.
The few days that I would be in the area, there were not many events going on as they were saving up and prepping for the next weekend which included holiday festivities. I did find a yoga event at Dillon Amphitheater which is about ten minutes north of where I was staying in Keystone. And among other things to do were the mountain villages to explore; Keystone has three villages: Keystone, River Run and Lakeside. There is also the Dillon Marina, right next to the amphitheater, with different boat tours and watercraft rentals.
Looking at my list, the options of activities were limited. I figured I could try to check out early and just go home or at least find a place to work on my photos from the event. Well the checking out early option failed; be careful when using loyalty programs, they make it more difficult to cancel. Rather than forfeiting the money and just going home early, I decided to stay. After all, the view was not terrible.
As for the finding a place to work, the best place ended up being my hotel room. I searched coffee shops, but those were limited and the hours were not great for when I was looking to go. Good thing I packed snacks. I was able to sort through all of the pictures from the event, deleting the blurry and extremely over or under exposed; and separating the ones to edit and the ones that would just be back up. This made it easier over the next week to edit the final pictures for the client.
In the end there were three defining events: walk to Lake Keystone, evening yoga at Dillon Amphitheater and chai for the road from Steep Brewing and Coffee.
1. Walk to Lake Keystone - The walk from my hotel to Lake Keystone was one of the potential trails I found to do prior to my trip. The walk was about a mile, so should take about twenty minutes. Not bad at all. Well the walk end up taking longer than expected because the path to follow is not clearly marked and includes cutting through some parking lots.
The other part of the trail that I did not like is that it is almost entirely in the sun, there is very little shade as it follows Snake River and stays generally close to the River. Once I arrived to the lake, I was underwhelmed. It is a small lake like that you would find in the middle of a city. Lining the lake are multiple story buildings in muted tones of grey and beige. The most pops of color came from some of the flower beds and flower pots at the residency buildings.
2. Evening yoga at Dillon Reservoir - As I embraced the time to care for myself and relax I found yoga. I figured it was something small that would only take about an hour that could highlight the day. I arrived a few minutes before it was set to start, checked in and stationed my yoga mat on a row in the sun. The sun was both good and bad in that it was warm and rejuvenating, but there were times, especially at the beginning, when it was hot and the instructor was in the direction of the sun, but thankfully I had my eyes closed for most of it. Since it was a public yoga session it was fairly light, focused on breathing and light stretching. While at times I found my mind bored and wandering, it was what I needed in the moment. I particularly liked the guidance that the instructor repeatedly gave to "move how your body wants to move." After yoga I wandered along the water at sunset and then hurried over to a restaurant before it closed to grab a giant burger for dinner.
3. Chai for the drive - I had to redeem the not going to a coffee shop on previous days before I headed back home. After checking out from the hotel I walked down the street to Steep Brewing and Coffee. I was worried about getting there and debated walking versus driving such a short distance given the experience of walking to the lake. Well this walk was better. It was only about five minutes of walking through condo parking lots and then a small stretch of walking along a road with no sidewalk or shoulder. The coffee shop by day, brewery by night location was welcoming with doors wide open to the mountain air. I ordered my usual chai, iced because it was already warm out. The chai was delicious. It was one of the best ones I have had in a long time. It was creamy and sweet, but not overly sweet with notes of spices signature to chai. It was a redeeming ending to my brief solo venture.
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