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The Best Day Trips to Take From Denver This Summer
There are 27 weekend days this summer. Here s what to do during each one of them. Nicholas Hunt •
If you’re like us, there’s only one thing on your mind after the winter we’ve had: Get. Me. Out. Of. This. House. Which is why we’ve rounded up 27 of the Front Range foothills’ best escapes, one for every weekend day this summer plus a few experts to help guide you through new adventures.
1. Kent Mountain Adventure Center’s Via Ferrata | Estes Park
Rock climbing can be as scary as it is thrilling unless you’re tackling Kent Mountain Adventure Center’s (KMAC) two-year-old via ferrata in Estes Park. Italian for “iron path,” this style of mountaineering allows almost anyone to ascend sheer cliffs along metal ladders sunk into the stone while clipped onto safety wires.
Construction will be ramping up this summer on a new trail to the top of Pikes Peak.
That s how Jennifer Peterson describes plans for the third season of realigning the Devil s Playground route on the backside of the 14,115-foot mountain. We re anticipating 100 (work) days this year, said Peterson, executive director of project-coordinating Rocky Mountain Field Institute. And we re really getting back to some steady volunteer opportunities.
Those opportunities last year were cut back due to COVID-19, she said. This summer, the nonprofit institute s professional crews expect to team up with groups like Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado and Colorado Mountain Club, while also partnering again with Mile High Youth Corps.
In June 2019, Britt Haley of our city Parks Department told me via email:
“Rocky Mountain Field Institute estimates annual maintenance to the section of Barr Trail impacted by Incline return traffic to be approximately $40,000.”
The city of Manitou Springs has been doing the $40,000 in repairs per year on the Barr Trail since 2013, but the condition of the trail is worsening. The visible erosion damage on the hillside is worsening also.
Why have the drainage problems not been fixed yet?
They are causing new damage to the trail every year.
Sources have told me for a long time that a professionally prepared study is needed before the drainage modifications can be done.