Tasting Excellent Local Beer in Ridgeway, Colorado

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This is the last of the three articles I wrote for the website Trazzler which is no longer. It's not a ride or hike, just a stop we made on a rest day between climbing 14ers. Photos are from a trip in 2009 For most, the town of Ridgeway is where your turn to go to Telluride or go straight to Ouray. Just off the main road, there’s the Colorado Boy Pub & Brewery. I had pints of the Stout and the IPA, and tasters of the rest. The stout and IPA were excellent. The Irish Red Ale was better than average. The Blonde Ale and Best Bitter were ok, but I wouldn’t get a pint of them. The food selection is simple, four different Paninis with chips, about $7 each. They also have free popcorn to go with the beer. The pints were $3.75 ($4.25 for the IPA) and tasters are about a dollar. They also had mini etch-a-sketches on all the tables. It's a small place, with only 5 tables and small bar, but has a great pub atmosphere. The Colorado Boy Brewery Ridgeway Has Some Nice Views of the
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Chasm Lake Hike (June 2010)

Chasm Lake sits at the base of the face of Longs Peak and is one of the most scenic lakes in the park. The lake is at 11,800 ft (just above treeline) and Longs Peak at 14,255 towers above it. We started from the Longs Peak trailhead on the east side of the park. The trail starts out climbing through a pine forest. Once it crosses the treeline the views get amazing. This first picture is of Longs Peak with Mt. Lady Washington just in front of it on the right side.


Once crossing over the ridge coming off Mt. Lady Washington, we could see Columbine Falls which comes from Chasm Lake. Also one of the less common routes up Longs Peak via The Loft is visible, but covered in snow. It goes almost straight up to the lowest point left of the peak.


The trail crosses the creek above the falls, but first we had to cross two snowfields. This picture is looking back on the snowfields after we crossed them.


The lake itself was still mostly frozen. Near its east shore, where the trail ends, the ice was broken up.


Here is a picture of the ice near the outlet of the lake.



The chunks of ice were thick enough that some were resting on the bottom of the lake in the shallow areas.


I did try to put my weight on some of the ice pieces. Some held; others cracked. The hike was 7.2 miles round trip and took us about 4 hours, including time for lunch and walking around the lake shore. If you are worried about going across steep snowfields, they should be gone by July. The elevation gain is about 2400 ft from Longs Peak trailhead, so it is an intermediate level hike and definitely worth it.

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