Don’t (Always) Follow the Rules
I’m known to be a staunch rule follower.. almost to a fault. It can be really annoying to others but that little part of my brain says, “There’s a reason they’re telling you to do ____.” On the drive out to Breckenridge, I took a little nudge outside my comfort zone and defied the rules.
I had time between leaving Denver and when I could get checked in at the place I would be staying in Breckenridge. Trying to find something to do between Denver and Breckenridge isn’t difficult - it’s beautiful scenery and an outdoor playground. Doing this in winter might be a little trickier though. I knew Mt. Evans and Echo Lake were somewhat on the way and would add on about an hour-ish to my drive. From looking things up ahead of time before leaving Denver (yes, my planner brain) I knew that Mt. Evans was “closed” to traffic but folks had been posting on AllTrails and Echo Lake which was on the same road to Mt. Evans looked open.
With a plan to check out Echo Lake, I took the Idaho Springs exit and followed my GPS. Shortly after, on the two lane mountain road, there was a “Road Closed” sign bolted over the “Way to Mt. Evans” sign. I decided to push on, my little CR-V was all-wheel drive, I had snow chains (that’s another story), food and water, my ski clothes, and camping gear. If something went sideways, I knew I’d be ok.
The roads quickly got snow covered and looked like they might have been plowed. As someone who’s not much of a snow driver, I slowly made my way up the 13 miles to Echo Lake. If I’d been a passenger on the ride up, I would have been a nervous ball of energy and would have wanted to bail out less than halfway up, but with my adventure mantra in the back of my mind, I pushed on.
Once parked next to a 1970s Volvo station wagon, I was relived - if they made it up here and would go back down too, I knew I’d be ok. I grabbed my micro spikes and slipped them over my booties and wandered out - it was beautiful and reminded me that this is what the trip is about: new experiences and pushing myself out of my comfort zone and not always following the rules (still mostly following the rules, but not 100% of the time). The lake was frozen over and people were snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and walking the path around the lake. Without even knowing it, I was walking across the lake. Covered in snow, it was hard to tell where the shore ended and the lake began.
It was a beautiful place and to get to experience something like that is amazing. Not so graceful in the three inches snow on top of the lake, but well worth the waddle across. Mt. Evans usually gets all the attention as the spot to see, but Echo Lake was pretty spectacular on its own and right along the way to Mt. Evans. It was a nice little break about an hour outside of Denver and would love to see it again in warmer weather.
