Running trails in CO

[Deleted]

H and his friends like to go to some random place, get a cabin in the woods and go trail running. This year they're thinking of going out west, specifically to CO. I know some of you live out that way, any suggestions as to an area with good running trails? TIA!

[breezy8407]

tagging blndsnbrdr

[reginaphalange72]

I'm partial to Boulder (I live here), so I can't really speak for other areas. But this place is great. They could find a cabin in the mountains just west of here, or stay right in town. It's super quick and easy to get up into the mountains (Nederland is a beautiful 25 minute drive away and is 3000' above Boulder), but then you also get the fun of stuff to do in town on the evenings (Pearl Street, TONS of breweries, good food, music, etc.).

SO MANY GOOD PLACES. I'm absolutely in love with this place. It gets better every day.

Scary thing is, I'm not exaggerating one bit.

[blndsnbrdr]

Oooh!

Do you want secluded cabin and trails?
Or closer to towns [ie: Breckenridge/Keystone or Boulder or Denver or Grand Junction]?

I can give you deets on both -- I love talking about Colorado trails!

[Deleted]

Apr 21, 2014 12:14:37 GMT -5 blndsnbrdr said:

Oooh!

Do you want secluded cabin and trails?
Or closer to towns [ie: Breckenridge/Keystone or Boulder or Denver or Grand Junction]?

I can give you deets on both -- I love talking about Colorado trails!

They're open to anything really! Last year they did some secluded place, previously they did a spot with lots of breweries. I'd say this year, closer to towns? I think that's more their mood. 

[Deleted]

Apr 21, 2014 11:51:45 GMT -5 reginaphalange72 said:

I'm partial to Boulder (I live here), so I can't really speak for other areas. But this place is great. They could find a cabin in the mountains just west of here, or stay right in town. It's super quick and easy to get up into the mountains (Nederland is a beautiful 25 minute drive away and is 3000' above Boulder), but then you also get the fun of stuff to do in town on the evenings (Pearl Street, TONS of breweries, good food, music, etc.).

SO MANY GOOD PLACES. I'm absolutely in love with this place. It gets better every day.

Scary thing is, I'm not exaggerating one bit.

Perfect, thank you!

[blndsnbrdr]

Okay...here we go!

Buena Vista is a fun little town near the Sawatch Range with lots of amazing mountain scenery that gets better as you run the trails. We ran there a few weeks ago -- you can easily get onto some great, runnable trails just east of Buena Vista that give you incredible views of the Collegiate Peaks [Yale, Harvard, Columbia, etc]. You'd also have really easy access to those 14ers [mtns above 14,000 feet] and the Colorado trail runs west of BV. If you're there check out the Branding Iron, Eddyline and Pizza Works. It's also pretty close to Salida and Leadville -- to other mtn towns worth visiting. If you want some photographic evidence of BV's awesome go here -- runaroundaroo.com/2014/04/15/a-miserable-reality-check/ #shamelessplug

Grand Junction is on the western slope and more desert-y. I don't know the town very well but Fruita is nearby and there are a lot of trails to check out. Like I said, more desert-y, not snow capped mountain-y. There are also hot springs in this area worth checking out! Here are some visuals for that area, from when we went mountain biking there last year -- runaroundaroo.com/2012/05/12/zippity-doo-dahday/

Fort Collins has some awesome trails and is an adorable town for about 120K with lots of breweries. I'm living in FoCo during the week [thanks 120mi commute] and am falling in love. I'm not entirely certain what is west of FoCo in terms of towns to stay in but I feel compelled to mention the city just because Horsetooth Resevoir + Lory State Park + Poudre Canyon are great places to run trails. Old Town in FoCo is on my "must explore more" list!

I'm not a huge fan of Boulder as a city but the trails are great. Same goes for Estes Park, tho it's very touristy in the summer with Rocky Mountain National Park so close by.

Grand Lake/Grandby would be good places to go if you're at all interested in Rocky Mountain National Park -- they are near the west entrance and are kind of in a valley of the mountain range so you're surrounded. You're also on the "less popular" side of the park so you won't get claustrophobic on the trails! If you this route check out The Library in Winter Park - it's a brewery type place and had delicious sweet potato fries.

Crested Butte is also an option that I'd highly recommend even though I've never been there -- it's on my to do list and the photos have me thinking the trails are worth running, twice! While it is a bit of a resort town it's pretty far from big CO cities/airports so I'm told it's not super busy.

Oooh, and Steamboat Springs! Love that city. It's a resort town, but removed from the main interstate [still only 3hrs from Denver] enough that it still has great local character! The trails in the area are incredible -- I'll be running my first 100M race here. It's known has a hard race [lots of elevation gain/loss] but I crewed it last year and loved the area/trails enough to pay to run them. Yea, it's that good. There are some nearby towns that are more removed from the resort town but still have easy access to all the trails/mountains/fun stuff. If you end up in Steamboat go to Creekside for breakfast/brunch and get the "local bacon", it's amazing. Also, the Paddlewheel is awesome for coffee. 


...how's that for 8 million options? I tried to keep it all short-ish and sweet-ish. Let me know if you end up picking an area, I can definitely give you more info on trails and food and...I may have a problem with my level of Colorado love!

@sessalee -- tagging because I'm too lazy to c&p this into quote mode!

eta Steamboat Springs, can't believe I forgot that one!

[Deleted]

Thank you so much blndsnbrdr! I sent all this to my husband. Now he needs to plan a trip and leave me with a nice long weekend home alone with the cats and a bottle of wine.

*daydream*

[blndsnbrdr]

You're welcome @sessalee -- let me know if you want more info, I'm clearly a talker!

Also...wine. And cats. And yes, please!