HEAD FOR THE FOOT-HILLS
NO. 1
HIGH AND MIGHTY
Rock climbing can be as scary as it is thrilling—unless you’re tackling Kent Mountain Adventure Center’s (KMAC) two-year-old via ferrata in Estes Park. Italian for “iron path,” this style of mountaineering allows almost anyone to ascend sheer cliffs along metal ladders sunk into the stone while clipped onto safety wires. From $289 per person; kentmountain.com
Detour: Book one of KMAC’s cliff camping experiences and spend the night suspended hundreds of feet up a rock face on a portaledge while the guides serve you everything from steak dinners to wine to morning lattes. $1,600 for two people
NO. 2
BRAVEHEARTS
Mountain style doesn’t just mean flannels in Estes Park. It also means tartans and kilts during the Longs Peak Scottish-Irish Highland Festival, the largest gathering of its kind in the West. Enjoy whiskey-tasting seminars, Celtic music, Highland dance, jousting, and hurling, a Gaelic stickand-ball sport whose origins are older than recorded history. From $29 ages 18 and up, $13 ages 10–17, 10 and under free; Sept. 10–12; scotfest.com
Detour: The Stanley Hotel may have The Shining, but the nearby Baldpate Inn claims the largest collection of keys in the world, some 30,000. facebook.com/baldpateinn
NO. 3
A LASTING IMPRESSION
This year’s Green Box Art Festival will leave a permanent mark on tiny Green Mountain Falls with the unveiling of “Skyspace,” the event’s first permanent installation. The newest in a series of “observatories” by contemporary artist James Turrell, the sculpted chamber turns the sky into an ever-changing work of art for the viewers inside. June 21–July 12; greenboxarts.org
Detour: Hang out with rescued wolves at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center. From $20 ages 12 and up, $15 ages 3–11; wolfeducation.org
NO. 4
RAPID TRANSIT
If you want a party, float Golden’s Clear Creek. If you want an adventure, try tubing the Cache la Poudre River west of Fort Collins. On the state’s only federally recognized Wild and Scenic River, expect whitewater rapids, pool drops, eddies, and just the), usually mid-July through August.
