Denver Day Trips

Lois Friedland

Stretch your legs and escape downtown with Colorado's scenic and historic with these family-friendly treks.

Experience Rocky Mountain Highs

You're surrounded by mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park while driving on Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous paved road in the country. Below the park's 75 peaks that top out over 12,000-feet, you'll find tourist-oriented Estes Park chock-full of shops, galleries and restaurants. En route to the park, detour through Allenspark to visit Eagle Plume's, a historic trading post rich with American Indian art, jewelry and pottery.

Stretch Your Legs: The park has 350 miles of hiking trails through high-alpine tundra, where the elk, deer and bighorn sheep roam.

America the Beautiful

Katharine Bates penned the words to America the Beautiful in 1893, after riding up Pikes Peak in a prairie wagon. If you ride the world's highest cog railway to the 14,110-foot summit, you can see almost to Kansas. Strapped for time? Then make a stop in nearby Colorado Springs, overshadowed by the peak. Tour the U.S. Air Force Academy, go underground in Cave of the Winds, visit the Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum, or stroll around the Broadmoor Resort's lake and dine in the hotel's glass-enclosed Penrose Room at sunset.

Stretch Your Legs: Walk among the Garden of the Gods' sandstone formations sculpted 30 million years ago, or hike up the 224-step stairway and the nature trail to Midnight Falls at Seven Falls to enjoy spectacular city views.

Colorado's Gold Mining Heritage

Step back to the mid 1800s when miners trod dusty streets and filled bordellos after days in the mines surrounding Georgetown and Idaho Springs. Today these towns, about an hour's drive up I-70 from Denver, display remnants of their gold- and silver-mining heritages to tourists. In Idaho Springs, go underground at the Phoenix Mine; learn how gold was processed at the Argo Gold Mill and lunch in a saloon. Ride the Georgetown Loop Railroad on a track that goes over the 95-foot-high Devil's Gate Bridge and stop to tour the Lebanon Silver Mine.

Stretch Your Legs: Enjoy the 10-mile drive up a mountain road to the St. Mary's Glacier trail. The 3/4-mile rock-strewn hike ends at a tiny lake below the glacier where snowboarders glide down the snowfield for much of the summer.

Lassoing The Lariat Loop

The Lariat Loop is a 40-mile circular Scenic & Historic Byway that explores the foothills you view from downtown Denver. This Byway travels through tiny Morrison, then along the twisting road bordering scenic Bear Creek up to Evergreen "” both mountain towns where main streets are lined with antique shops and restaurants. Next, it's up over Lookout Mountain "” stop to see the buffalo herd "” and down to Golden for a Coors Brewery tour. The interactive displays in the Visitors Center at Red Rocks "” where two 300-foot sandstone monoliths form a natural amphitheatre "” and the info signs along Dinosaur Ridge and Morrison's Natural History Museum will intrigue geology buffs.

The Independent Republic of Boulder

Feisty Boulderites thrive on outdoor activities, culture and healthy lifestyles. The pedestrian-only Pearl Street Mall in the city's heart is prime people-watching turf. Farther afield you can take the Celestial Seasoning's tour and then visit the Leanin' Tree Museum and Sculpture Garden of Western Art. You'll find plenty of sports shops here for local maps and suggestions, if you want to join the parade of cyclists, joggers, hikers and climbers enjoying the outdoors. If you're here at dinner time, drive up to the rustic Gold Hill Inn or the Flagstaff House, where the food and views are outstanding.

Stretch Your Legs: Hike the 1.6-mile loop at Chautauqua, with views of the city below and the piercing Flatirons nearby, and then picnic on the slopes merging into the foothills.