We arrived at the perfect moment of the year to see the bright colours of the Aspen trees. Well, maybe the word perfect is discussable as we were too early to hit the ski slopes 🙂 Nevertheless the colours were so impressive! Every free moment we found we went out for a hike. Some colleagues of mine even hiked before breakfast leaving at dawn around 6am.
North Vail Trail (16,5 km)
We hiked with some early arrived colleagues the North Vail Trail which leaves near the Grand Hyatt hotel and goes up the hill next to the highway. As this was on the first day, we still had to adapt to the elevation and when the trail went up, we quickly had to slow down a bit. You often see the highway but you don’t really hear it, so it’s not really bothering. Although I prefer to be 100% in the nature. At the top the highway even looked nice as a line through the landscape. We were happy to be back at the hotel after more than 16km. Time for an apertif and the official start of the team gathering.
Berry Picker Trail (6,6 km)
This short trail beginning at the Cascade Village Lift (20) starts with an aggressive climb up the ski slope. It’s a zig zag trail up the hill and you return via the city of Vail. Some great views but make sure to look out for cyclists which might come down rapidly on the single track parts.
Son of Middle Creek & North Trail connection (13,3 km)
From our hotel we hiked followed the small river to the city of Vail and then went up the hill. The beginning is steep and hard but the views are awesome and then you have a longer very gentle track going down back to the city of vail.