While exploring the breckenridge area on day 5 we inadvertently found a couple of trails that some of the locals told us about. We decided we had acclimated enough to attempt riding the rockies so off we went. We did not carry the camera with us for fear of destroying it if we crashed, so we are unable to share the beauty of the pass.
The trailhead was 3 miles up an old narrow railbed that was now a dirt road. We talked to one of the locals to find the exact start of the trailhead as it was not clearly marked. We set off up the dirt road with the dogs at our side. The view over the side of the mountain was not as picturesque as the previous days hike, but was still picture worthy and i wished we had carried the camera.
Just past our stop the local we talked to in the parking lot caught us. We had a conversation for the next mile and a half. He was from Minneapolis and relocated to denver 5 years ago, apparently some of his extended family followed and they had a cabin in breckenridge which he visited most weekends. He explained the history of boreas pass to us; an old narrow railbed, which we would learn later in the day was the only way in and out of breck until a road was built during the early 1900's. The trail was aptly named Baker's Tank because of the huge water tank sitting at the trailhead. This tank was used for the train to refill its water supply. Fortunately there was a cold mountain stream next to it that the dogs could cool off in.
As the dogs splashed in the cold water we said our fairwell to the "local" that accompanied us on our climb; he was continuing to the top of the pass, we used the dogs as an excuse to ride the singletrack back to the parking lot.
The singletrack was very reminiscent of a trail back home called Rocky Road. Part of the way down Liz's back brake began to lose pressure, making for a quick descent back to the bottom. Many other riders were surprised at the dogs aptitude for the trail. As usual, they loved every minute of their run, this was turning out to be quite the doggy holiday.
After returning the our rental house and cleaning up we decided to head into town. We let the sleeping dogs stay on the comfortable leather couches and headed off.
After exploring a few of the shops downtown we decided to stop for a hot dog at one of the carts in an alley. While our food was cooking we visited the historic ski museum in breckenridge. Museum makes it sound like a large building but it was actually the size of a small dining room. They had skis ranging from the late 1800's (what we refer to as snowshoes today) all the way up to 15lb wooden skis from the 1960's.
We enjoyed out hotdogs, grabbed some chocolate from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and enjoyed a cup of coffee from the neighborhood Starbucks (shameless plug). A good ending to another beautiful day in the rockies.
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