Colorado Explorer: Activities

Bring it on, winter!

By Linda DuVal

Tired of the same old ski runs? Here's a new challenge: Mirkwood Basin at Monarch Mountain ski area. The basin has been out of bounds for years, but recently re-opened to expert skiers and snowboarders. Features in the basin are named for places and characters from "The Lord of the Rings" and include chutes, cliffs and trees. You might even find a few double-black runs. 888-996-7669.

Even if you don't ski, there's still plenty of fun to be had in Telluride this winter with snowshoeing, ice skating and even winter horseback riding. Roudy's Telluride Horseback Adventures offers "gentle horses for gentle people, fast horses for fast people, and for people who don't like to ride — horses that don't like to be rode." In that case, maybe sign up for a sleigh ride. 970-728-9611.

Run with a view at the 15th annual Rim Rock Run at the Colorado National Monument in Fruita, just west of Grand Junction. The Nov. 10 event is a 22.6-mile endurance race along Rim Rock Road. Just watch the road while taking in the scenery — which is incredible. 970-464-9040.

Courtesy Brian Gadbery/CTO

If you're looking for an indoor way to spend a wintry day, visit the Spirit of Flight Hall of Honor in Lafayette. This private museum houses hundreds of aviation artifacts, including a special exhibit dedicated to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of World War II. Open by appointment. 303-460-1156, ext. 21.

Those decorated roadside crosses you see all over the Southwest are called descansos, and they're a focal point of an exhibit at El Pueblo History Museum in Pueblo through May 31. "Descansos and Traditions in Remembering the Dead" will feature a history of cemeteries and other cultural ways in which we honor our dead. 719-583-0453.

Experience the pleasures of the 1840s with wagon rides, games, toy making and other old-fashioned holiday activities at Bent's Old Fort near La Junta. The events begin and end with candlelight tours of the fort on Dec. 7 and Dec. 8. Reservations required. 719-383-5023.

Linda DuVal is former travel editor of The Gazette in Colorado Springs and a freelance writer.