Mountain Getaway

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

Sometimes you just gotta get away and recharge your batteries. Explore. Breathe in some fresh air. It’s called “Self Care”. 😉 This past weekend was it for me! Tom & I stayed at a lovely mountain cabin in Pine, Colorado walking distance to the famous Bucksnort Saloon.

We left after work on Friday and headed up to Pine, only a 40 minute drive from home with the car loaded with everything we could possibly need for the weekend. Of course, I always pack too much like clothing for any occasion or weather event, food & snacks to feed an army, and plenty of “just in case” games/activities.

On Friday evening around sundown, we ventured out to Pine Valley Ranch, a quiet, gem of a Jeffco Open Space Park for a hike around the pristine lake and along the rushing river.

The trails within the park are short and mellow, but scenic. If you’re looking for something more adventurous, these trails do provide access to the Buffalo Creek Recreation Area in Pike National Forest.

If you are hosting an outdoor event, this would be a terrific place to do it, as the park has several picnic shelters.

This park also features the William Baehr Observatory just 0.3 up a steady incline on the Star View Trail. While we didn’t visit it this trip, I have been up there in the past and the views are awesome!

On Saturday morning, we drove less than 20 minutes from our cabin to Staunton State Park, one of my favorite parks in the state. (See my numerous past blog posts)

Staunton is so beautiful and offers so many hiking options, that it was no surprise just how busy it was on a Saturday morning in the summer. Still, the park is worth the trip. There are miles upon miles of trails, scenic overlooks, waterfalls, wildlife, and wildflowers.

We opted for a chill and scenic hike around the Davis Ponds, which I had actually never seen before. The trail was surprisingly not crowded, but we discovered lots of people fishing around the tranquil ponds. There was even a fishing event taking place which provided accessibility and adaptations for fisherman and women with disabilities. Very cool! I should also remind you, that this wonderful park offers a Track Chair Program providing the disabled community an opportunity to enjoy the park’s trails AND it’s totally free!

After a really nice morning at Staunton, we headed back to our mountain home for the weekend. We stopped briefly to check out the Rhubarb Festival in town. Too fun! There was live music, artists, vendors, refreshments, and of course, a rhubarb baked goods bake-off! I was totally disappointed that they were out of my size in the Rhubarb Fest t-shirts.

The rest of the warm afternoon was spent relaxing at the cabin. Well, trying to relax. The only suitable place I could find to set up my hammock was on the side of a steep hill. One wrong move to the left and I’d fall pretty far to the ground. I eventually managed to get comfy enough to listen to my audiobook and stare into the tall trees above me. A light breeze kept me just cool and comfortable enough.

Our little cabin was close to some stunning scenery, so before dinner at the Bucksnort Saloon, we went for a walk to check out what the locals refer to as the “Hillbilly Water Park”, a natural water slide down smooth rock in the river. We did not participate, although we got a kick out of watching some crazy kids doing it. We could hear a mix of laughter and “ouches” from down below in the cold, rushing water.

After building up our appetites, we finally made our way to the famous Bucksnort Saloon for a burger, beer, and atmosphere.

On Sunday morning, we decided to go for one last hike that was recommended to us by our Airbnb hosts. It was a 3 mile roundtrip walk to this cool, unique neighborhood in which the homes were made out of old train cars!

As a Realtor, I’d love to add the sale of a train car home to my resume! Pretty neat.

And just like that, the weekend came to a close. I can’t say enough good things about this little Airbnb. It was perfect.

Where will we adventure next?