Dillon, Colorado…our official 1st Stop!
We decided to start our full-time journey in a town we’ve been to many times before…Dillon, Colorado! We wanted to stay somewhat closeby since my youngest daughter was about to start her freshman year by participating in a very cool pre-arrival program for enrolled freshman called CU in the Rockies, a program led by Outdoor Pursuits at University of Colorado Boulder. Annabelle has a decent amount of experience camping and hiking, and has even rock climbed before so we weren’t concerned about her outdoor abilities. But, this was her first backpacking trip. And since anything can happen out in the wilderness, we felt we should be within driving distance in case of an emergency.
We chose Dillon for that reason, but also because we love all that Dillon and the surrounding area has to offer. Plus, we have some friends that live there so that was a total bonus!
For those unfamiliar with Dillon, it is a mountain town close to Frisco, Silverthorne, Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, Copper Mountain and Breckenridge. We spent about 3 weeks up there and enjoyed a variety of activities icluding hikes, biking the path from our campsite on Heaton Bay, meeting friends for coffee and happy hours at great local pubs and bars, paddle boarding and pontoon boating on Lake Dillon, sitting on the beach in Frisco, listening to live music and catching a concert at The Dillon Ampitheater, and firepit nights at our campsite at Heaton Bay (with and without friends). We actually rode the bike path on our E-Bikes a few times to the towns of Keystone and Breckenridge. And spent the better part of the day playing tourist in those mountain towns, riding the gondalas, shopping, eating, and having some libations too. We considered riding the alpine coaster in Breckenridge one day but we would have missed the gondala back down where our bikes were locked up, so we opted out. (Next time though!)
I know most people tend to visit the Colorado mountains during the snowy season to enjoy all of the winter activities (skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing, ice fishing, snow mobiling, ice skating, dog sledding, etc), but the best time of year to be in the mountains is summertime if you ask me. The weather is perfect! We loved our stay so much that we decided to book a campsite at a private rv resort in Breckenridge for 2 months summer 2025 in advance.