Winter Adventure In Breckenridge, Colorado: A Colorado Trail Snowshoe

This is day four in our winter adventure in Breckenridge, Colorado in February of 2024. We had arrived on Sunday of President’s Day Weekend in the evening and today is our third full day in the popular mountain town. You can find our arrival at: A Winter Adventure In Breckenridge, Colorado: Our Arrival.

Sunrises Never Get Old

This morning I took my sunrise photo from the opposite direction, looking toward Peak 10, Mount Helen and Quandry Peak. How could you not be happy waking up to this every morning?

In deciding what to do today, I knew I wanted to go on a snowshoe trek. It was just a matter of picking which one! The avalanche forecast was better than yesterday’s but still a safety factor. Also, I needed to be able to get to any trailhead I chose by walking or public transit. Go Breck had some good suggestions as did Fox In The Forest. Everything looked so beautiful!

In the end, I made my decision based on one I use often when I have so many options for possible hikes. I went with the snowshoe on a long distance trail, in this case the Colorado Trail which is part of the Continental Divide Trail. The pictures looked amazing, I could get there by bus and the terrain looked moderate. Plus it was outside the core of Breckenridge so odds were less crowds.

After loading up my snowshoes, poles and backpack I headed back down to the bus stop at 10am and took the Purple Route to the Breckenridge Station which would allow me to connect with the Frisco-Breckenridge Route we had taken into town on Sunday.

For those of you who know me in real life, you know most of my outdoor adventures do not start at such a late hour. Because the ski resort didn’t open until 8:30am and the kiddo was not leaving until around that time (or later), I was spending that time with him. Also, he was sleeping on the pullout in the living room and getting up early would have meant waking him up earlier than needed. So, a later start it was and that was okay.

The transit station was a large circular area next to the Breckenridge Gondola, it was easy to find the bus stop I needed. The bus runs every 30 minutes so I did not have to wait long.

This bus was more like the ones you think of for public transit and it was obvious by who was on the bus that it was a daily commuter for locals going to and from work or to run errands in either town. I was the only person who looked headed to outdoor adventure.

The drive along Highway 9 was scenic and took about 10 minutes. The stop I needed was for Revett Drive and it dropped me off at a covered bus stop at the intersection. I didn’t take a picture at this point because when I got off and looked around, I was not entirely sure where the Colorado Trail crossed Highway 9. I had studied online and supposedly there was a way to stay on the trail just north of Revett Road but I never found anything definitive despite reading multiple blog entries on the CDT and all I could see was a wall of berm and snow. So after careful consideration I waited for traffic to die down and simply jogged across to the other side where I could see the bus stop for the southbound bus.

At this point, I did not actually go into either covered bus stop, more on that later.

Making my way behind the bus stop, I was soon to the Blue River Rec Path I had been on the day before. Happily without a bike! This was close to where I had seen the sign for e-bikes to turn around, about a quarter mile from the Gold Hill Trailhead.

As I started my walk north, it was not long before I noticed footprints in the snow heading towards what looked like a stream flowing under the highway. Hmmm…

I followed the trail in the snow and discovered what must be where hikers are supposed to take the Colorado Trail from one side to the other and avoid darting like frogger on the road (like I had just done).

However it wasn’t exactly a formal trail, it looked more like a afterthought social trail. I wanted to see how it met up on the other side but would come back to this after my snowshoe adventure.

Back on the rec path, I was crossed over a sturdy iron bridge that spans what I now know to be Blue River herself.

I stopped for a few minutes to admire her flow and the Ten Mile Range in the distance.

Arriving at the Gold Hill Trailhead at 11am, I did my thing putting on my snowshoes and starting the trek up the trail. My optimistic goal was to make the 3.5 miles to the junction with the Peaks Trail that runs parallel to the Ten Mile Range and back into Breckenridge (a possible loop for those with a long day and stamina).

The trail had a gentle ascent through sparse lodgepole pine, a contrast to the dense forests we have here in the Pacific Northwest but similar to some areas in Washington and Oregon on the other side of the Cascade Mountain Range. Tracks in the snow indicated that the trail sees a variety of users from hikers to snowshoers to fat bikers to skiers.

It was not long before I was high enough to see the snow crested peaks of the range before me.

I could also see the sprawl of Breckenridge to the south.

The summits rose towards the sky on the east wide of the Blue River Valley, giants like Whale Peak, Mt. Guyot and Boreas Mountain.

I stopped for a snack a few miles up from the trailhead, soaking in the bright Colorado skies.

I had brought a thermos so hot tea was also enjoyed.

After a few hours of exercise, I headed back down to the trailhead and rec path and started back towards the bus stop. I am not sure if it was the effects of yesterday’s fat biking marathon (literally) or several days at high elevation but I had tired sooner than I thought I would.

Before finding my way to the bus stop, I took another side trip to check out the underpass for the Colorado Trail. I was glad that I was not blessed with height as I stooped to make my way to the other side.

Once out from underneath the road, I walked far enough to survey my surroundings. I could see the bus stop and it looked like either there was no trail to it or it was buried under the snow. Nothing would have told me to come the direction I was standing to be able to go under the highway, but it must run along the guardrails. There was, however, a trail of foot prints from further along Revett Drive so locals must walk this way often to the rec path. I can see now if you are hiking north or south on the Colorado Trail the route must be more obvious. Taking the bus, not so much.

Back on the other side again, I continued south on the Blue River Rec Path and admired what is known as the Four Mile Bridge Open Space (named after the iron bridge over the Blue River).

It was still a few minutes until the next bus into town so I snowshoed around the marshy area surrounding the Blue River. This ecosystem is slowly being restored from its life as a gravel pit after being ravaged by the mining era to a natural stream channel. In the warmer months, this area is popular with anglers looking to catch some trout.

Eventually I made my way over to the bus stop to await my chariot. It was here that I discovered there was knowledge to be had if you were smart enough to look inside the covered stand.

Of course, this doesn’t do you much good if you are trying to find it ahead of time online but I guess if you arrive here and want to know what to do, here you go. Hopefully this post will rank on Google for anyone who is looking for the Colorado Trail or Continental Divide Trail underpass at Highway 9 between Breckenridge and Frisco (see how I used a bunch of keywords there).

It was about 4pm when I got back to the condo, had a snack of leftover pizza from our dinner at Tin Plate the night before, took a shower and then a short nap.

Around 6pm we left the condo in search of dinner for what would be our last night in Breckenridge. We were one of many walking along Main Street, the restaurants and shops were bustling. You can check it out yourself on one of their webcams.

Tonight we were visiting the Breckenridge Brewery and Pub. It considers itself the “OG” of breweries in town, I guess before everyone began touting themselves as a brewpub? I am not sure 1990 constitutes a long life but they must have been the first in Breck so a rightful claim.

It was expectedly busy but we didn’t wait long for a table upstairs. Service was good, it was about 20 minutes for our drinks after sitting and another 10 for our food to arrive. I had the Trout Fillet with Sriracha cream sauce, coconut rice and broccoli and the kiddo had their Plain Mac N’ Cheese which was anything but. It is always a gamble ordering fish in the middle of the country but the fillet was tender and flavorful. Maybe since it was trout and you can fish locally for it, the supply is trustworthy? Salmon, questionable. The broccoli was also fresh, not frozen which can sometimes happen at brewpubs.

After dinner we walked back down through the center of town so the kiddo could see what it was about, having spent most of his week so far up at the slopes. We enjoyed the lights and I took a picture of him at the scrap metal sculpture from my first day in Breckenridge so he could show his friends. It looks kind of like a Mandalorian?

We were back to the condo around 8pm and slowly packing for our departure from Breckenridge tomorrow. We were not leaving until after 11am but I had plans to do one last hike before we left so I didn’t want to waste the morning getting everything into our luggage and sorting the condo back to how we had found it when we arrived.

I struggled to sleep this last night, it wasn’t long after laying down that my heart started to abnormally race. I got up and drank more water and took an extra dose of aspirin but it persisted for a few hours. It was scary and I wondered if I was going to have to call 911! I knew it was a symptom of altitude sickness but I wasn’t having any of the other symptoms (aside from fatigue) so I didn’t let me anxiety get the best of me and I rode it out. The extra water hydration before bed, however, meant I was up a couple times in the middle of the night.

I know aspirin is suggested only as a preventative measure but it was what I had since I was taking a little everyday. Next time I will make the effort to get a prescription to ward off altitude sickness.

Resources on this page:

The next post will wrap our time in Breckenridge and Colorado, including my last snowy adventure and our travel back to Denver and home. Our flight was for the following day but I didn’t want the stress of our public transit trek the morning before our departure at 11am, especially with the tendency for I-70 to close if the weather turned pour. I hope you join me to wrap things up!

Directions to Gold Hill: Take I-70 to Exit 203, turn south on Hwy 9 for 6 miles to a parking area on the west side of the road (Gateway Drive). A sign marks the trailhead, there is room for plenty of cars.

Editor’s note: for the knitters who are curious, I did make Belle Barbie’s outfit. The skirt I made up, a simple tube with ribbing at the top in the style of one of my Purple Rain Adventure Skirts. However, the bandana is a mini version of a pattern I knit for myself.