Day Trip Guide: Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Glenwood Springs – a town nestled in the valleys of the great Rocky Mountains, often overlooked by tourists and locals. Commonly used as the gateway to a place where the beer flows like wine, where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. Yes, I’m talking about a little place called Aspen. The destination mountain mecca of Aspen lies just 42 miles down the road from Glenwood Springs. Many visitors to Colorado stay in Glenwood Springs and hop on the local bus down the road to Snowmass and Aspen.
Glenwood Springs is home to a mere 9,600 hundred locals but hosts thousands of tourists year round.
The town is tucked between narrow mountain valleys and right next to downtown is where the Colorado and Roaring Fork Rivers meet. Surrounded on all sides by red dirt mountains and cascading cliffs, the geography is truly something to marvel at.
For pedestrians and bikers, the town is a paradise. Most restaurants, shops, and bars are located within a 3 block radius of each other. There is a pedestrian bridge that reaches over the Colorado River and I-70, connecting the main side of downtown with more attractions across the highway. Glenwood Springs was even recognized by multiple publications as one of the most walkable towns in the US!
Sean and I can sure attest to this — our iPhones clocked us in at over 17,000 steps in just one day visiting Glenwood Springs! We definitely worked for the food and drinks over the course of our 10 short, but sweet hours in Glenwood Springs.
Getting There
I-70 quite literally runs directly through Glenwood Springs and the town is easily accessible from both East and Westbound directions.
It is also possible to access Glenwood Springs via CO-82 which runs through Aspen, however, this highway is closed October – May.
What to Do
Morning
If you didn’t go to Hanging Lake, did you even go to Glenwood Springs?
We started the day off with a quick hour and twenty-minute drive from our home just down the road in Breckenridge. Pulling in to the Hanging Lake parking lot at 8:30 am, we felt we were late to the party. The attraction is notorious for hundreds of daily visitors – some even making the climb at 4:30 am to enjoy the turquoise pool in the serene hours of the early morning. Dozens of online articles recommended we get there at least before 7 am, but beauty rest took precedence that morning.
I had expected to park in a dirt lot and find the trailhead amongst a cluster of pine trees. Wrong. The parking lot is paved with neat little parking spaces, which are usually always occupied. There is a building adjacent to the parking lot with proper restrooms and your last chance to fill up that water bottle at the fountain! It surprised me to see the infrastructure and what an attraction Hanging Lake was. After a quick pit stop, we headed off towards the trailhead to see just what this Hanging Lake was all about.
I’ve done a few hikes in my hiking career and 1 mile from the trailhead to Hanging Lake sounded like a piece of cake. Add in 1,000-foot elevation gain and we’re talking a different kind of ball game. Fortunately, the sights along the hike provided constant wonder during our “pause to catch our breath” moments.
Fortunate for us, the trail was not as busy as the parking lot made it appear. Most people we saw were heading down and since no one was passing us, that meant that the lake must be clearing out! The trail itself is rocky in places and steep in others, overall the climb took us around 45 minutes bottom to top.
The last few minutes of the climb are the most treacherous – a rock staircase on the edge of a small cliff above the trail below. At the top, we reached a man-made walkway, turned the corner and wah-lah, Hanging Lake!
We spent thirty minutes marveling at the crystal-clear turquoise lake, snapping photos and simply just taking it all in. After we had our fill, we headed back to the fork in the trail that took us up above Hanging Lake to Spouting Rock – a waterfall coming right out of the middle of a cliff face! This waterfall is what then cascades and feeds into Hanging Lake. It’s only 200 yards away from Hanging Lake, don’t be that person who misses it!
Overall we spent 2.5 hours at Hanging Lake from arrival to departure.
Sadly, restrictions on access to the lake will be put in the place to protect the delicate system. For more information on when these are put into place, check out Hanging Lake’s website via the town of Glenwood Springs.
Mid-Day
As you can imagine, we were famished after our morning road trip and hike. We booked it to downtown Glenwood Springs, that walkable town I previously mentioned. Within a couple blocks radius, there are dozens of restaurants to choose from, it was hard to pick just one! While the riverfront options were tempting, we ended up going to a new cafe off the beaten path.
Native Son is a healthy, clean eats brunch spot that provides the fuel to energize you through an active day. I went for the Peruvian Kabobs which came with a generous and delicious serving of grilled pineapple. Sean got the wrap. While both were tasty, I definitely made the better choice.
After brunch/lunch, we perused downtown Glenwood Springs. A few cute shops and boutiques are scattered along the main downtown road. Typical to any mountain town, the shops are mainly geared at tourists but fun to browse and who knows, you may find that one gift or item that speaks to you!
Shopped till we dropped, it was about time for a cold one.
Afternoon
Our meanderings led us to a pedestrian bridge that crosses over I-70 to the historic Glenwood Hot Springs.
But hot springs were for later, we had beer to drink!
A great spot to toss a cold one back, Glenwood Springs Beer Garden has the perfect outdoor patio complete with cornhole (bags) tables and chairs and a firepit for chillier evenings too! We loved the wide variety of beers available and that the beer garden offers cocktails and wine for those who may not be into hops and barley.
Inside you can find a variety of board and card games to play – loser buys next round?
We tossed a few back, I beat Sean at cornhole, and then we moved on to the next activity — time was ticking!
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park
A short 10-15 minute walk from the Brew Garden is the gondola that takes you up to America’s only mountain-top amusement park. The park features cave tours, activities, special events, and thrill rides including North America’s highest elevation roller coaster! You can pay for just the gondola ride, the gondola ride + rides at the park, OR what we should have done is the Summer Funday Pass & Soak. The pass includes 2 gondola rides, two cave tours, unlimited rides and entrance to Iron Mountain Hot Springs. Hindsight, twenty-twenty.
The ascent in the gondola up to the top of the mountain and theme park is absolutely breathtaking. Enjoy a birds-eye view of Glenwood Springs below. Grab some fudge at the souvenir shop, take a picture on the observation deck, and catch a Rocky Mountain thrill on an assortment of rides!
After a few hours of boppin’ around, we earned ourselves a nice long soak at Iron Mountain Hot Springs! Thankfully, the hot springs are near the base of the gondola and it wasn’t that far of a trek.
Evening
This place is: UH.MAY.ZEENG. The reason why I prefer Iron Mountain Hot Springs to the historic Glenwood Hot Springs just down the road is that Iron Mountain offers 16 semi-private natural hot tubs, rather than one giant pool of a hot tub spring. Each one of the sixteen natural hot tubs is a different temperature, so there is truly a temperature and tub for everyone. I love scalding hot showers, hot tubs, baths and everything warm. Sean on the other hand, not so much. A few of the tubs (Lapis, Topaz & Garnet) are located right on the river’s edge, giving you a tranquil and relaxing view while soaking all your worries away. There is a full-amenity bathhouse with showers, lockers, and vanities to clean yourself up after a nice long soak. Also on-site is a restaurant and bar to grab a libation and snack at. Have kids? Not to worry! There is a separate family pool for little ones who are bored by the calm relaxation vibe of the hot tubs.
We ended up staying at the springs until they closed at 10 p.m., whoops! After a long day of adventure in Glenwood Springs, it was time to pack up and head back to Breckenridge.
Glenwood Springs was the perfect day-trip getaway and could be for you too! Whether you live in Colorado and want to experience the springs for a day or you are visiting from out of state, there are numerous activities for all ages!
Have you been to Glenwood Springs and have suggestions on activities I may have overlooked? Comment below to share!
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