The photos on this page include those of Snowmass Village where I took a gondola and chair lift ride up to Elk Camp; a short walk along a portion of the Brush Creek Trail and a drive down the Lower River Road which parallels Highway 82 between Snowmass and Basalt.

To be perfectly honest, I could have skipped the Elk Camp portion of the day, which took up most of my time. My goal for the day was Snowmass Village simply because I'd heard so much about it. I got into the 'town' around 9 and took a quick drive through the numerous streets of condos and apartments and up a more quiet road of residential homes. Then, realizing I didn't have a precise goal, I drove back down to the Visitor Center.

Well, this was Labor Day, so it wasn't open. It seems to me that in an area that relies nearly 100 percent on touism that some form of information for newcomers should be available on a holiday. I couldn't even get information from the only gas station because it was closed as well.

The only thing happening in town (though they were setting up for the big concert series later in the day) was the Elk Camp Gondola which takes you ... up a mountain. Which one, heck if I know. There's Snowmass, Snowmass Village, Snowmass Mountain and Snowmass Peak. I really needed a tourist office to help me out.

The views at the top were nice. Seeing the Maroon Bells from a different angle put a smile on my face. It was a cloudy day, and while on the open chairlift, it started to sprinkle. All in all, it wasn't really a great experience. And, to top it off, if you're not a biker, you really feel out of place. The whole gondola experince in the summer is geared toward mountain biking.

So, with all that out of the way, my day started at 3 in the afternoon when I came to the Brush Creek Trail and decided to take a short walk on that before heading home. Then, on the way home, I got off the Highway 82 and onto the Woody Creek Road, which eventually turned into the Lower River Road, which paralleled the 82 put offered a quiet scenic drive along the Roaring Fork River and kept crisscrossing the Rio Grand (Bike) Trail.