re: new to colorado

Fly fishing

You'll want to wait a few months to do Pike's Peak, but I was out at Garden of the Gods bullshitting around yesterday. Weather has been and will be great for the next week or two at least. Check it out when you have time.

while quandary is not difficult, sherman makes it seem like everest. I think we were 3 hours car to car. Quandary is much better though.

I lived in denver for a few years. My best advice is never lose sight of the fact that the stuff you get to do after work and on the weekends is the stuff that less fortunate souls all over the world plan dream vacations to come do. You never know when she'll drag you back to where ever it is she's from.

After work:
mountain biking: pick a JeffCo open space but my favorites were centennial cone, lair o' the bear, watterton canyon to some loop involving the colorado trail, buffalo creek on the weekends. Tons of other good ones, we sucked so these all had relatively easy riding. If you're good or want to carry your bike a lot while watching better riders, check out dakota ridge. For a longer weekend ride, kenosha pass to georgia pass and then either back to the car or on to breck is awesome as is monarch crest.

Rock climbing:
north table mountain, clear creek canyon, boulder canyon, eldo will keep you busy for years. The flat irons aren't the best climbing but you need to do at least the 1st and 3rd once. Check out mountainproject.com

Hiking: pick a JeffCo open space.

Fishing: south platte

Once you hit the weekend, you're options really open up. Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon of the Gunnison are two cool national parks that don't get much traffic. Get out to the Moab area a couple times, ski silverton, backpack the 4-pass loop near aspen, RMNP, 14ers, yada yada...what do you like to do and we may have more specific suggestions?

GG State park is a gem. One of my favorite haunts. With the recent dry and warm spell, most trails should be ok. Good for running, mtn bike or hiking. NOT crowded at all. Great trails all through the park.

Another one to check out a bit further up the canyon is Centennial Cone Park. Take the GGC road to Robinson Hill, turn left, and continue on to the parking lot. Open during the week to hikers/bikers. Weekends are alternate, check the board.

White Ranch Open Space is pretty awesome. Can get on trails from the bottom, up Pine Ridge Rd, right off Hwy 93, or from the top out of Golden Gate Canyon, going up Crawford gulch rd. Can get crowded with horses, mtn bikers but lots of miles of trails.

Good luck.

Looks like you've gotten a bunch of good recommendations but I'll pile on...

Camping - Glenwood Canyon and Great Sand Dunes National Park

Fishing close by - South Platte River up into Waterton Canyon

Dining - The Fort in Morrison and The Base Camp in Indian Springs

Hiking - literally everywhere.

Beer - Oskar Blues was my favorite.

Wow, so many places to look into. Whoever spoke of gemstone mines, do you have any additional info? I am a little intrigued. Black canyon of the gunnison looks amazing I cant wait to get out there! Glenwood Canyon and Great Sand Dunes National Park also look like a lot of fun. I am going to have to find some fly fishing classes. While seeing it done before, it looks rather challenging. Also, Mesa Verde looks insane! So those dwellings have just been chilling there all these years??