Vail Valley and Piney Lake

S. and I spent a long weekend in Vail visiting my parents who were there enjoying their annual two week visit during the season when the aspen trees turn golden. S. and I chose two drives on “improved dirt” roads that were recommended by a local Vail newspaper. The first took us up from Vail village on the forest service road that crosses the ski slopes up Vail mountain for about three miles then is barricaded and you have to turn around. The trees were only beginning to turn but the skies were a stunning blue and it was a lovely day. Next year cars will no longer be allowed to drive there. We passed quite a few cyclists so I am guessing it might be a safety measure to avoid accidents.

Next we crossed to the north side of I-70 onto the frontage road and drove up the road to Piney Lake on a similar dirt road. It climbs the valley on the other side passing some red sandstone cliffs and then travels on north and east through beautiful aspen and pine forests before ending at an alpine lake. We passed several trail head areas that might be fun to explore sometime. The only downside is that there was logging going on and the road is pretty rough where the logging equipment has been working and once we had to wait before passing around the logging crew. Piney Lake is beautiful and looks like a fun destination for a picnic or hiking and canoeing. Our grandchildren might enjoy a day there in a few years.

Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us come to visit. We had four generations there at one point when our daughter and son-in-law and the newest baby great grandson came up for a day.

Lou