Lifting in Colorado

txjump12500 · 03-25-2007, 07:12 AM

So far, have been completely unsuccessful finding anyone that can give me tips here on where the best place in Colorado would be to vacation for an avid lifter who wants to also camp and have easy access to high-mountain hiking.

Here's the deal...

I am taking some time off in May and want to go to Colorado for about a week. I used to go there a lot as a kid, but don't know where to go now since when I went as a kid, was not bodybuilding. I generally know the various areas of Colorado, just don't know what town/area has what I'm looking for (great nearby gym, place I can camp in a cabin with a fairly remote feel, and a short drive, say 30 min-1 hr, to great high-mountain hiking). I've done web searches, but seems the small towns I would be interested in for camping and nearby hiking do not have gyms (i.e. Silverton, Ouray, Telluride). Also, would like the town to have descent places to hang out at night as I may make the trip solo.

I am already familiar with the Durango area. I did it a couple years back and it pretty much fits the bill. There's a KOA that's nice and has camping cabins (dont have to mess with tents, but yet still feel like you're camping). The drive into town is about 20 min to a municipal rec center with pretty good equipment, and good (high-mountain, scenic, snow-capped) hiking is a 30 min-1hr drive. But I would like to try a new area.

Any thoughts on lifter-friendly camping and hiking vacations in Colorado?

txjump12500 · 03-26-2007, 05:16 AM

Anyone?

kbdub · 03-26-2007, 11:24 AM

colorado springs without a doubt. i live in colorado. there is a reason most of our olympic athletes live and train there. lance armstrongs trainer lives there as well. lance did a lot of his training there or near there. you can get into super tech gyms there that will measure bar path, velocity etc if you want. hiking is amazing near that area or you can drive 2 hours to Summit county.

Vanusk · 03-26-2007, 11:39 AM

I live in colorado myself, personally i would check out Estes Park area, beautiful town with a ton of things to do, alot of really good hikeing areas. If your looking for a nice cabin to stay in i would check out the YMCA (http://www.ymcarockies.org/index.cfm...ction=YMCAHome) they have some really nice cabins depending on what you want (some small ones, my family used to get one that would fit 16 of us with room to spare ). Im pretty sure the Ymca also has a fitness center, if not the town should be big enough it would have a gym, but still give you that remote feeling.

txjump12500 · 03-29-2007, 05:32 AM

Thanks for the ideas folks. I've never been to Estes, so I'll look into that. I dont recall however Colorado Springs having high mountain peaks around it (at least not like the area between Durango and Ouray on hwy 550).

But really looking for names/locations on actual places to stay and gyms. What's difficult when you try to do research on the web is not only finding them, but when you do find something, you're not sure if the gym is any good or if the place to camp has a remote feeling to it. It doesnt necessarily actually need to be remote, just not sandwiched in with motels, 10 feet off the highway, etc. The place I tried before was the KOA north of Durango and that was great. 20 min drive into Durango, so it wasnt surrounded by much, on a river (great sound to sleep to at night), but yet close enough to town to get to my morning lifting and hiking was 30-1hr drive up 550.

The gym (municipal rec center) in Durango was pretty good. Had pretty much all the equipment you could find in a regular gym.

Sounds like I'm still leaning toward going back to what I know (Durango), but I'd really like to try a new location. So let me know if you know of specific camping spots and where nearest gym is!

nwskier · 05-21-2007, 07:31 PM

Check out the Vail Cascade hotel & spa.
they've got an excellent gym and are located on the village trail

www.vailcascade.com

great hikes, day trips, camping all nearby.
outstanding mountain biking & whitewater kayaking too.

JohnnyB0517 · 09-05-2008, 07:31 AM

My brother used to live in littleton. We would go to Estes Park every summer very nice place and very high in the mountains. Would be ideal for some killer cardio.