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An Outdoor Getaway to Vail and Canyon City, ColoradoStory and photos by Naeem Randhawa and Sonia Laflamme
I took the Memorial Day long weekend and planned an escape to spent 3 days with my wife, getting to know Colorado, of course this offered only a glimpse of all that awaits for visitors, but if you want to base a more extended visit from our experience on this article, then read on… After some “minor” complications with our flight, weather caused us to divert from Denver and land in Colorado Springs, sit in the plane for an hour, and fly back to Denver. As a result of arriving late into Denver International Airport, we missed our scheduled pick-up time, the only available rental car left for us to choose from were three 15-passenger vans. Any of which would have guzzled up more gas than the cost of our flight by end of weekend. At 1AM in the morning, with nerves frayed by the delayed flight, and a fruitless round of arguments with customer service, we decided it would not be worth escalating the issue with customer service, and decided to taxi it to our hotel, the Oxford Hotel, we would deal with the rental agency in the morning.
The
next morning, we took advantage of the rich ambiance of the Oxford Hotel,
by Having straightened out our car rental dilemma, I headed uptown to attend a business seminar, while someone who will remain unnamed (but is married to the writer), decided to indulge in a couple of lavish treatments at a recommended day spa, Antoine Du Chez. Sonia decided to try out their services at the “Vichy room”, a unique hydro-therapy treatment, where you get wrapped up like a mummy after salts and oils are rubbed on your skin, while listening to soothing music, and have mist of warm water wash over you. After I attended a morning of Internet technology product reviews, and, Sonia assures me, an equal and fair amount of effort exerted on her part at the spa, we decided to drive out to Vail. One piece of advice, if you are driving to Vail from Denver, do not, I repeat, do not rent a Korean 4 cylinder vehicle. Only faster on uphill climbs than the 18-wheelers, which by law have to drive in lower gears, we did make it to our destination - Vail! Vail is the biggest single mountain in the United States. It offers 5,165 acres of skiable terrain with 174 trails. The vertical rise is 3,360 feet. Watch out for altitude sickness. The base elevation at Vail is 8,120 feet and the summit is over 11, 000 fe et high - 11,480 to be exact. The snow is usually very good. They get an average annual snowfall of 346 inches or 866 centimeters.
At the ranch we met with John Helfer, he’s the kind of guide you think of, when you think of a know-how, seasoned country hand, that garnishes the kind of patience that is required when dealing with an imminent city-slicker like myself. His experience and open candor helped us to ease into one of the most beautiful horseback treks that I have taken anywhere in the US. The weather couldn’t have been nicer, without a cloud in the sky, and a comfortable temperature in the high 70’s, light winds blowing across the plains. We rode for two hours, from the ranch, upwards into one of the surrounding valleys sloping gently towards gentle crests. We sat back, and listened to John recount local history, local rancher’s issues and describe the abundant wildlife in the area. To add to the afternoon, we saw a couple of deer, from across a distance, as we lazily trotted on our trail. After about an hour, John, led us into an opening outcrop of an area along the hillside, to let us revel in a most majestic mountainous views. We sat at the top of the trail now, and looked with awe at the beauty of the landscape, surrounded by gently sloped mountains all around us, we could see the ranch we had left below us, a tiny speck in the deep valley. The sun set, shedding golden light across the crests of the hills.
To complete this perfect day we enjoyed a
romantic dinner at the Sonnenalp's Swiss The next morning, we worked out, went for a swim, and ate a healthy breakfast. The Sonnenalp Resort is a family operated European style hotel recommended by most Denver print guides, as a high-end resort. The resort offers family outdoor programs, biking, hiking, golf, and is also a favorite for business gatherings. The Sonnenalp Resort also has a spa room, worth checking out if your goal is to just hang out and relax. After packing the car, checking out, and grabbing a cup of coffee to go, we jumped into the rental and headed for a four-hour drive to Canyon City, hoping the engine of our 4-cyclider Korean jalopy wouldn’t give out along the way.
Canon City is about the same height as Denver, only slightly higher (by about 60 feet, at an altitude of 5340 feet), so remember to take the appropriate pre-cautions while exercising or taking part in any type of physical programs. Being early in the season, the river runs would not open to the public for another couple of weeks, we had the opportunity to go down the rapids with a team of river guides in training.
It is
reassuring to be in a raft full of seasoned and in-training guides. Being
amateur With the water level not being as high as it would be during the peak season, we were told that it made tip-overs all the more dangerous, as the rocks below were closer than when the water was at a higher level. We spent about 4 hours surfing "The Royal Gorge", a class IV-V, renowned as the cutting edge of whitewater thrills. No one fell into the water, at least not unintentionally. We had a great time, learning the ropes, listening to tall tales, paddling like mad at times through rapids, easing back on the smooth currents, and peering to the tops of cliffs rising straight into the sky hundreds of feet on either side of us. Like the rest of Colorado, the landscape at times is really breath-taking, I remember when we were just floating along the river, one of the guides paddled a hard right, which sent us spinning gently in a forward circle, watching the red cliffs surround us. Lyrics from one of U2’s songs kept playing in my head, “...in God’s country.” Bussing it back to base camp from downstream, Jaci and Bill invited us to join the gang for some ‘yak’ burgers, and BBQ. Four hours of rafting builds up a real appetite, we joined the guides and staff for some good eatin’, and chatted over supper of the day’s events. The sun had begun to set before we started eating, and as we started packing our car to head back, we were completely in the dark. The drive back to Denver was mostly without incident, we took turns alternately driving and snoozing. We returned the rental, and although, the car had a little more horsepower than a wind-up, the gas mileage and savings were a nice surprise. Our flight back home was also without much incident, which was a good thing. When we get a chance, we definitely plan on spending more time in Colorado, communing with nature, and eating yak burgers!
For more information, check out these links:The Oxford Hotel in Denver
McCormick’s Fish House & Bar
Antoine Du Chez
Triple G Outfitters
Sonnenalp Resort
Bill Dvoraks Kayak and Rafting Expeditions
More about Colorado
Also be sure to prepare for high-altitude travel by checking out:
The National Outdoor Leadership School www.nols.edu/Publications/FirstAid/AltitudeIllness.html
The Outdoor Action Program at Princeton University www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/altitude.html |
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JustSayGO Travel Show
walking around the hotel and the neighborhood and soaked in some of the
history, which helped straighten out our nerves from last night. The
Oxford hotel is located downtown, and offers a full range of services
including 2 restaurants, a full gym next door, and all the amenities you
would expect to find at a better hotel. The area known as LoDo (Lower
Downtown) provides some great day walking opportunities. Within walking
distance is the local night-club scene, restaurants, coffee shops, and the
typical variety of downtown shops and office towers. The hotel has a great
restaurant, not to be missed, McCormick’s Fish House & Bar, you can’t go
wrong with the Columbia River Troll King Salmon, it’ll melt in your
mouth. Also, not to be missed is the restaurants’ Cruise Room, which is
elegantly furnished like the interior of an early century luxury liner.
We
checked into 
Chalet Restaurant. We indulged in specialties of the house; Swiss cheese
fondue, followed by Raclette Matterhorn (Swiss raclette cheese with beef
tenderloin, chippolata sausages and potatoes cooked on our table grill)
and topped off with fresh fruits dipped into delicious Chocolate fondue.
The
plan was to spend the day white-water rafting on the Arkansas River. The
drive itself was beautiful, the road winding it’s way across plains,
through mountains, bluffs, and over streams of cool clear water, however
it is a little long, so if you drive from Vail or Denver to Canon City, be
sure to stock up with your day-trip essentials, water cooler, snacks to
much on, and of course some tunes to listen to while you drive.
rafters, it was nice knowing you wouldn’t be surrounded by others who have
the same lack of experience you do. Jodi, a Kiwi, the lead instructor on
the trip, decided to have us raft with him. Having spent most of his life
in and around water, Jodi, ha
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