Stay-Cations

 

With all that the various outdoor experiences the Front Range has to offer, it can be difficult to find the time and motivation to load up the car with snacks, kids and gear to drive any further than forty minutes-a long approach by Boulder/Denver standards. If you get an early enough start, you may be able to count on at least an hour and a half of silence as the backseat members of your family catch up on those precious hours of morning sleep. After that, I recommend having an arsenal of car games on hand. Scavenger hunts are my personal favorite as they have the potential to stretch the entire length of the car ride if need be.

Upon arriving, do not be surprised if you find yourself overwhelmed by a sense of jubilation and relief, having freed yourself from the frenzied, competitive spirit that epitomizes life amongst the professional athletes of the Front Range. It is possible to go for a family bike ride without the fear that you will find yourself surrounded by a gang of extreme mountain bikers intent on practicing bunny hops and wheelies while flying past you on a blind curve. You can go for a hike without having someone three times your age run past you, carrying a seventy-five pound pack because they are training for their fifth trip to the Himalayas. Enjoy your brief respite from the intensity that characterizes outdoor adventures at home.

If you are in need of some desert therapy and only have time for a quick weekend getaway, consider a trip to Fruita, Colorado. Fruita is about a five hour drive from Boulder, though it could be five hour plane trip given the rapid transformation the geography undergoes. As you enter the Colorado Plateau, the land seems to radiate warmth and energy from the red earth. Fruita is an incredible destination for camping, hiking, biking and climbing.
• Colorado National Monument is my favorite place to visit for camping, hiking and climbing. Use your imagination and see if anyone in your group can find the kissing couple amongst the rock towers!
• Mountain biking is suited to all age levels and abilities. Check out the 18 Road Trails for a nice, mellow experience and the Kokopelli Area Trails for a more fast-paced adventure.
• For one of those rare rainy Colorado days, there is also a Dinosaur Museum to keep all members of your group happy and occupied.
• The Avid4 Adventure Fruita Family Trip gives you a chance to explore the hiking, camping, climbing and rafting in Fruita without any of the aggravations of planning.

For a chance to visit Colorado’s smallest land area-the intermontane basin-head to Dinosaur, Colorado in the Northwest corner of the state. Dinosaur National Monument offers visitors a wealth of options for outdoor activities.
• Hiking in the Monument is one of the best ways to view the petroglyphs and pictographs, in addition to the stunning scenery.
• Rafting the Green River is an exhilarating way to view the canyons of the park.
• Options for car camping and back country camping are also available within the park.
More options within a six hour drive from Boulder include,
• Great Sand Dunes National Park (http://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm) if digging your toes deeply into warm, soft sand sounds appealing, but the trip to the California or Texas coast is out of reach.
• Moab, Utah, which is my favorite destination for every outdoor activity I can imagine. There is spectacular camping, climbing, biking, hiking, canoeing, canyoneering...the list goes on and on. Be careful though, you risk serious addiction to Moab upon visiting.

Avid4 Adventure Family Trips, which provide an easy way to escape for the weekend without the hassle of having to prepare for and manage the trip yourself. Avid4 trips now go to Steamboat Springs, Crested Butte, Fruita, CO, Moab, UT, Arches National Park, and even paddling along the Gunnison River in your own canoe.

Wanderlust. Adventurer. Stir-crazy. Restless. These are all words that have been used in conjunction with my name at different points over the course of my life. Before moving to Colorado my travel rarely took place within the United States. I took every opportunity I had to leave the States in search of something exotic, historical and completely different from anything that I had known growing up. Upon moving to Colorado I quickly came to realize that I was living in that very place. In just a few hours it is possible to find yourself wandering through a prehistoric landscape strewn with fossils and ancient drawings. You might spend the morning biking through striped, sandstone canyons, the afternoon floating down the river that was responsible for those canyons and by nightfall you may be listening to your children tell campfire stories while feeling dwarfed by the enormity of the starry sky hanging above you.

Whatever your preference, remember that the main objective of your weekend getaway is to relax and have fun. You are leaving behind the worries and stresses of your life at home in favor of adventure and endorphin release. A bonus of adventure-focused weekend getaways is the sound of tired, sleeping youngsters - and sometimes spouses - on the car ride home!

Family Fun in the Winter

As winter approaches we are also nearing the season for which Colorado is world-renowned. That glorious time of year when you wake up early to bright, cold, bluebird mornings. When you walk outside the ground crunches beneath your feet and your breath freezes in front of your face.

To many, this time of year is known as ski season. I know it simply as winter for I have a shameful confession to make. In the almost four years that I have lived in Boulder I have not been skiing nor snowboarding once. My excuse the first winter was an injury and as more winters have passed I have come to realize how many amazing winter activities there are that do not involve a drive over frozen mountain passes, long lift lines and hoards of people. Each winter I pledge that this will be it; this is the year that I will finally make it up to the mountains. Alas, a broken ankle will keep me away from them again this year, but seeing the snow beginning to build on the mountains to the west still stirs a restless enthusiasm. Fortunately for me, that enthusiasm can be satiated quite easily right here in the Front Range.

With the wealth of trails around Boulder, you don’t even need to leave the Front Range during those few winter storms that actually bless us with some amount of snow. Re-explore all of the hikes that you checked out with your family this fall, but this time do it on snowshoes! If this winter follows the typical Boulder weather pattern-sunny and beautiful-it is likely that you will need to venture a bit further afield. Fortunately, it is rarely necessary to travel far. Around Estes Park and Nederland you might check out,
• Lily Lake for a pleasant afternoon snowshoe and picnic.
• Lily Mountain would be a longer more strenuous option, though be aware of the trail as it can be easy to lose in the snow.
• Brainard Lake also offers a variety of trails with spectacular views of the Indian Peaks and Continental Divide.

If we are lucky enough to have a snowy Boulder this winter, then sledding is an absolute must do. Sledriding.com is a national database which lists sledding hills across the country. The Front Range has a number of hills ranging from beginner to expert. Though sledding generally does not need any added incentives, if you are so inclined, you might turn the whole activity into a fun and entertaining challenge. Who can come up with the most creative sled? I myself have used everything from a cookie sheet to an inflatable palm tree. The possibilities are endless and the creative juices are flowing at warp speed between the ages of 5 and 12. Perhaps it will catch on with other families and we will see a revitalization of the sledding scene this winter!

With crisp days and cold nights also comes the chance for us to glide across water. In this land of blue skies and snowy peaks there are a number of picturesque ice skating destinations to choose from. Check out the ice rink at,
• Boulder One Plaza if a short drive, restaurants serving hot beverages and the perfect size rink (meaning it is not large enough for over-enthusiastic six or twelve year olds to build up too much speed) sounds ideal.
• Evergreen Lake for a skating experience that is a bit more remote and offers an ample amount of space for exploration. With the Evergreen Lake House nearby, which has a warming hut and fireplace, the ability to warm frozen toes and fingers won’t ever be too far off.
• Nederland Ice and Racquet Park for those in search of the truly remote, mountain experience. It is typically colder in Nederland and ice skate rentals are not available so be sure to be prepared.
For the intrepid adventurers out there, you might consider winter camping. Put to test some of the skills that you learned on your Avid Family Trip. Challenge some of the primitive skills or backpacking lessons that your child learned over the summer. A number of Colorado State Parks offer winter camping, which would be a great introduction to the activity. Continue to check back for recommendations on camping around the Front Range.

Whatever your preferred winter activity is, as always, the most important thing is to make sure everyone is having fun. There is certainly a good time to be had on the ski slopes just west of us, but there is also plenty of fun to be had in our own backyards. Now is the time to really challenge your children. The world around them has transformed into a frozen wonderland. Is it still important to keep the Leave No Trace principles in mind when out romping around on snowshoes? How is it possible to still recognize and identify the trees learned over the summer if they are missing their leaves? How many different colors still exist in a world that is all white? If you follow through on my call for creative sledders, there should be quite a few colors!

Virginia Sanford, a senior Avid4 Adventure staff, continues to stay active as she recovers from ankle surgery. You'll see her back in CO soon on the trails and rock.

Family Car Camping

Car camping has to be my favorite way to spend a significant amount of time in the outdoors. There is nothing nicer than hiking in to the perfect camping site with views of elk, marmots and fields of wildflowers, but no sign of human existence. In the same breath, there is also nothing nicer than loading the car full of coolers, tents and chairs, driving directly to your camp site, unloading the car and relaxing in your camping chair thirty minutes after arriving.

Since breaking my ankle earlier this fall I have become quite familiar with easily accessible outdoor activities, and car camping destinations around Boulder have been on the top of my list. In any other town I may have fallen prey to boredom and depression after being cut off from all of my favorite activities, but I’m not sure that is possible in Boulder. Within five minutes it is possible to be in the mountains outside of Boulder with unobstructed views of the Continental Divide at sunset. Within an hour outside of Boulder it is possible to be settled into your very own private campsite in the woods just minutes away from your car, preparing gourmet meals on your Coleman double burner camping stove. All of this is possible to do on crutches, which means these activities also translate well into great family outings, particularly for families with younger members.

The easy access of car camping typically means that you may need to expect neighbors. Luckily, there are a number of easy-access camping destinations that are either beautiful enough that you don’t notice the neighbors, or that still offer privacy being tucked back in the woods. While there is really no camping within the Boulder city limits, there are plenty of options just outside of the city.

When you finally find a weekend that is free of soccer games, play dates and household chores you can load up the car and be set up at your own campsite in the mountains, nestled amongst the pines and aspen within the hour. When you wake up to the sound of the birds and squirrels chirping, perhaps it will also be time for a mandatory two minutes of silence to enjoy all of the noise of the natural world. Once you have had some semblance of morning peace and eaten your fill of oatmeal and bananas (my favorite camping breakfast), you will have a multitude of adventures to choose from, whether it be a day of canoeing and fishing for dinner, hiking to pristine glacier-fed lakes or cruising some scenic single-track bike trails. There are several remote camping destinations in Nederland.
• Indian Peaks Wilderness Area has a number of car camping sites nestled in the woods with easy access to a number of activities-including one that is a rarity in the Colorado mountains: swimmable lakes!
• West Magnolia offers dispersed camping as well as a number of single-track trails for hiking and biking.

There is plenty of camping to be found in Roosevelt National Forest, which borders Rocky Mountain National Park to the North and the East. Consider the following campgrounds north of Denver:
• Olive Ridge in Estes Park for easy access to Rocky Mountain National Park.
• Bellaire Lake in the Red Feather Lakes District for a campsite with a trail leading to the lake which allows canoeing and flatwater kayaking.
• Brown’s Park near Rustic, CO for a beautiful wooded site. Perhaps someone in the family will remember the all-natural absorption benefits provided by the surrounding Aspen trees from their week of practicing wilderness survival skills.

If time is not on your side and you are looking for a quick escape from the sound of the telephone, television-really any sort of telecommunication device-you might explore one of the many Colorado State Parks in the Denver/Boulder-metro area. Several of these parks are frequented by Avid4 Adventure Day Camps as well as the 1-Day Off Campus School Program and 5-day Leadership School Programs.

If your camping interest has been piqued and you are ready to step it up a notch, but aren’t quite prepared for the full logistical responsibility or the very thought of it is just too exhausting, let Avid do the planning for you with one of our Family Camping trips. However you get out there, please remember to ask your kids to teach you some of their favorite wildflowers, take the time to identify some of the animal tracks and scat you come across on the trail and “allow” your kids to help with the cooking and cleaning process in order to get the full camping experience.

Virginia Sanford is a veteran Avid4 staff and specializes in our camps for 5&6 year olds. When she is not snow-shoeing, she is likely rock climbing, hiking, camping, or reading.

Snow-Shoeing with the Family

When I was younger, my parents tried to introduce me to cross country skiing. The long, gangly skis did not complement my long, gangly body very well. I spent many years struggling to glide as effortlessly as they seemed to. Somehow I seemed to spend more time trying to disentangle myself from the mess of skis and poles that I often ended up in after sliding out of their tracks.

The day that I discovered snowshoes, a whole new world of possibilities erupted. All of a sudden, I was able to explore all of my favorite trails, even some that had never before been possible. Staging snowshoe races down hills was all at once fun because they weren’t nearly as awkward as skis when you fell. It has been about twelve years now that I have been snowshoeing and I have not looked back. Many people have tried to convince me that skiing is far superior to snowshoeing, but their claims fall upon deaf ears. My love for snowshoeing runs deeps and cannot be deterred.

I grew up in Vermont where it is not uncommon for temperatures to dip well below zero for weeks on end. During the winter the sun rarely peeks out behind the clouds and the humidity is generally higher on a daily basis than it is on the muggiest day in Colorado. This results in a nice layer of ice that rests on top of the snow throughout most of the season. While this can offer exciting snowshoeing, as you never know whether that layer of ice will hold or break, I would say the most enjoyable snowshoeing came on those rare days after a snow storm when fresh powder blanketed the landscape. Fortunately, in Colorado we do not need to hold our breath waiting for that one storm. The powder in Colorado is legendary and thus Colorado has some of the best snowshoeing and it is often right at our fingertips. When snow touches down and actually lasts along the Front Range, there are endless trails to explore. When it is necessary to travel a bit further in search of the snow, the journey is never far and remember to enjoy the views that become more spectacular as you head westwards.

Snowshoeing is the perfect activity for the entire family. When you weigh less than fifty pounds it is possible to experience the sensation of floating on snow. This is fun for five year olds and a bonus for you parents as it makes it quite difficult to lose your otherwise small and lightning fast child. I can already hear the familiar hiking complaints rising up - I hate walking; this is boring - and I will squash them immediately. On snowshoes it is possible to travel to places that have only been explored by the deer and mountain lions roaming the hillsides. Plus, who doesn’t love a good flotz (to throw oneself joyously into the snow) every once in a while? Snowshoeing offers a perfect opportunity for scouting out the premier flotzing locations. Once you have found the perfect spot, the whole family can enjoy a good flotz, though for safety’s sake, you may want to take off your snowshoes first.

Through a series of trials and errors I have learned several valuable lessons over my years as a snowshoer. Perhaps the most important lesson learned is not underestimating the amount of exertion snowshoeing demands. In other words, you will get hot, you will want to remove every single layer of winter clothing you have on and you will want to ditch it along the trail as you go. It can also be hard to remember that snow is simply an atmospheric water vapor that has frozen into ice crystals. It is not a solid and it is not impermeable to melting. When you fall into a nice, soft cushion of snow, the chances are very good that you will be wet and cold within three minutes time. I recommend dressing in layers that breath and dry quickly, which means no cotton. Snow pants and a water proof jacket are a must even on the warmest, sunniest days. Snow boots are essential as your comfort and happiness as a parent and a snowshoer depends upon dry, warm feet for all. Remember to bring plenty of water and snacks to keep everyone between the ages of five and fifty-five happy and energized. See what your kids remember from hiking day with their multi-sport day camp or from their Avid4 Adventure School Program. If their memories are sharp, they should be able to help you plan entirely for your family snowshoeing adventure. In fact, they may plan ahead a little too well, demanding a map, compass, matches and enough layers to live in the woods for a week on end. If your teenager is really taking a shine to the planning and leadership role on the family outings, maybe the new Teen Leader-in-Training Program would be the perfect challenge for next summer.

If you are not already outfitted with snowshoes and are feeling adventurous, try your hand at making your own pair of snowshoes out of various materials. If you would prefer to have someone do the work for you consider visiting,
• REI in either Boulder or Denver.
• Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder

Once outfitted, it is time to head to the hills. If any members of your party are under four feet tall you may consider starting out with short snowshoes through relatively easy terrain. While the trails in and around Boulder are wonderful, the chances of snow on the ground can be iffy. In Estes Park opportunities abound for everything from introductory trails to advanced terrain. For a nice, mellow introduction check out,
• Lily Lake
• Winter Trails Day
• Rocky Mountain National Park for Ranger-led snowshoe hikes and an opportunity to learn more about our local ecology. Call for reservations 970-586-1223
You can explore the area just west of Boulder at,
• Brainard Lake (http://boc123.com/snow/brainard.cfm)
• Eldora Nordic Center

As you and your family become more proficient with snowshoeing and navigating trails during the winter season, opportunities for exploration abound. Step up the technicality of your snowshoeing adventures by going for steeper ascents or longer sojourns. Lily Mountain in Estes Park is probably my favorite moderate snowshoe, though when there is enough snow, the Eldorado Canyon Trail takes the cake. The chances are endless. As you begin to wander through your favorite hikes from the summer or winter, don’t forget to reference your sons and daughters. They may have some favorite hikes in mind from their Avid4 Day Camp.

As you venture out onto the trails, I wish you good luck in your quest for the best flotzing spots and happy adventures!

Virginia Sanford is a veteran Avid4 staff and specializes in our camps for 5&6 year olds. When she is not snow-shoeing, she is likely rock climbing, hiking, camping, or reading.