5280 Traveler 2016

A YEAR AGO, I wrote three words on a pink sticky note and posted it next to my computer at work: “2016 Machu Picchu.” My brother had recently returned from a five-day hike to the famed Inca site in Peru, which I jealously experienced via social media. I, on the other hand, was restless; it had been four years since I’d traveled beyond North America’s borders. I griped to anyone who would listen that I needed to get away—far away. Machu Picchu became my focus. The travel deities must’ve heard my pleas: My best friend and her husband announced they would be spending eight months backpacking around South America, and they invited me to join them for a portion of their journey. Which is how, in late April, I found…

A FEW STUBBORN LEAVES cling to aspen branches along the Mason Trail 20 miles east of Cripple Creek as I skirt a soggy wetland patch and climb toward an open meadow. Here, sepia-tone willows poke through six inches of snow; on the horizon, the rugged summit of Pikes Peak stands majestic behind a veil of clouds. Just over a mile from the South Slope trailhead, where I’d started, I crest a ridge and discover a pair of jubilant fly-fishermen shouting at the edges of the argentine Mason Reservoir. “Another one!” they yell, hauling in what must be at least their 10th cutthroat trout of the day. But it’s not a fair fight: The fish of Pikes Peak’s South Slope haven’t known a hook in more than 100 years. The last…

There may be no “I” in team, but there’s a whole lot of it in Salida’s two-year-old Captain Zipline Aerial Adventure Park. Unlike a team-building ropes course, aerial adventure parks are larger and more complex, designed to be selfguided using a smart belay system that attaches participants to fixed safety cables at all times. Tucked in the Arkansas River Valley’s Lost Canyon, the 120-element Captain Zipline includes swinging bridges, tightropes, tunnels, suspended ladders, trapezes elevated up to 50 feet off the ground, and six 200- to 700-foot zip lines that form an adventure mecca. “This is the place where Indiana Jones meets Spider-Man,” says owner Monty Holmes. Hundreds of aerial parks exist in Europe, where the concept originated, but Captain Zipline is Colorado’s first, and the largest in the Western…

DO THIS! RIDE the Little Scraggy Trail The first half of Little Scraggy Trail (part of the Buffalo Creek trail system) opened for riding in September 2014. Pedal more than six miles of flowy single-track through rocky outcroppings on the stretch of undulating climbs and descents from the trailhead to Kelsey Campground. You’ll have to turn back just past the campground for now, but when the other half of the trail to Buffalo Campground is finished next summer, you’ll get to tackle an additional several miles without any backtracking. HIKE the Colorado Trail from Kenosha Pass to Deadman Creek The Colorado Trail from Denver to Durango generally takes four to six weeks to complete. But the nine-mile out-and-back section from Kenosha Pass to Deadman Creek can be done between breakfast…

Since DIA sits a good 20 miles from downtown, just getting there to catch your flight is no small feat—never mind if you’ve got to drop Fido off at the boarder first. Paradise 4 Paws, which opened in December 2014, eliminates at least one of those problems. Situated less than three miles from DIA, Paradise provides pet boarding and onsite parking ($12 per night), so you can say goodbye to Spot and hop on a free shuttle to the terminal. It’s not just about expediency, though. Paradise is also about luxury for your four-legged friends: The 25,000-square-foot facility nixes cages, offering only suites— some of which have TVs and human-size beds. A day for a canine guest might include a morning massage, a dip in the pool, peanut butter à…

ONCE UPON A TIME, a hotel was simply a place to sleep. But a spate of new accommodations that have opened in Denver in the last couple of years (511 new downtown rooms in 2015 alone) offer guests more than just clean sheets, free HBO, and mini shampoo bottles. Murals by Allen Tupper True greet lodgers at the two-year-old Renaissance Denver Downtown City Center Hotel, while the elegant Crawford Hotel, which opened in July 2014, crowns the happening Union Station. LoDo’s Nativ Hotel debuted in May 2015 with a 20-tap on-site biergarten and a high-end basement nightclub to lure locals and tourists alike. And the Source marketplace is gaining its own hotel—rooftop pool included—in early 2017. This trend illustrates the importance of “experience,” a buzzword in Denver hospitality that supposes…