Breckenridge - Snowshoe & Int'l Snow Scultpure Championship
Activity: Snowshoe Hike & SightseeingDifficulty: Moderate & Easy
Distance: about 4 miles
Location: Breckenridge, CO
Description:
We started out the day with what we expected to be a long drive. It took us about an hour longer to get to Breckenridge than what Google predicted. We knew we needed to make the drive worth it so we planned to visit the 2017 International Snow Sculpture Championships and enjoy the beauty of Summit County snowshoeing. After failing to find parking anywhere in town, we found a Zip car only spot where we could at least park to eat our picnic in the car.
We then headed out of town a short 4 miles to the Sallie Barber Mine Trailhead. Our intent was to hike the 1.4 mile trail to the mine and be back to the car early enough to beat the rush for supper. With a little misguided advice from another hiker we chose to hike on French Gulch Rd; we were told it also ended up at the mine. We did enjoy the road hike because it was a nice flat, packed snow trail with little traffic (open for non-motorized access only) and it was wide enough to accomodate the trailer for the kids. Unfortunately, we hiked almost 2 miles and the road "ended" at another trail. We tredged on through the forest and decided to turn around when the sun sunk below the mountain tops. It gets cold fast when it starts to get dark. We were back at the car fairly quickly, as it is easier to hike down than up. However, our early eating plans had been squashed when the clock said 5:30. My best guess looking at satellite images on Google maps is that we hiked around 4 miles round trip.
We headed back towards Main St, Breckenridge to hopefully find parking. We lucked out completely and got a spot just as another car was leaving. Parking in Breck is free after 3pm, so that saved us some money, too. We found a restaurant and taphouse, C.B. & Potts. The wait was long, the food was a little over priced, and the seating was crowed; all to be expected in a resort town. The food, beer, and service was satisfying and good.
After we ate we headed outside to view the snow sculptures. At night they are lit with colored lights and music plays for the entertainment of guests. It was a bit croweded and hard to manage 2 small kids and a box full of leftovers in the crowd, but the sculptures were pretty amazing. It would have been nice to read more of the descriptions provided by the artist teams about their projects but we were battling bedtime. We did think ahead and bring pj's for the kids to ride home in. And a good piece of advice, if you can only make it to Breck on the weekend, traffic is better on Saturday night than it is on a Sunday.
