HIKE AND DINE For those who prefer to adventure on foot, Beaver Creek’s hiking center offers organized, scheduled hikes every day of the week, and its professional guides also lead private, customized trips. If you’re the type of hiker who likes to have a clear goal or final destination in mind, plenty of inspiring options exist. Whether you’d like to reach the top of one of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks or hike from Beaver Creek over to Wolfgang Puck’s Spago restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton in Bachelor Gulch, the hiking center can help you get there. Embracing Beaver Creek resort’s “Not Exactly Roughing It” tagline, the Beaver Creek hiking center is prepared to equip guests with what they need to have a comfortable outdoor experience. All hikes and tours include transportation, a professional guide, demo equipment (including backpacks, boots and poles), rain gear, snacks and water. Beyond that, the hiking center can also accommodate a variety of special requests, such as providing picnic lunches or additional outdoor equipment. For those who want a more decadent treat at trail’s end, head back into the village and relax on the deck of one of the many restaurants located there. The Beaver Creek Chophouse has a prime location at the base of the mountain, with patio seating, mountain views and a lawn that affords bocce and other games; try some sangria and a crab cake. Even though the hiking center is located in Beaver Creek Village, its excursions extend on foot from Beaver Creek Mountain to the Eagles Nest, Holy Cross and Collegiate Peaks Wilderness areas. And some exciting hike-and-dine events this summer allow hikers to combine their love for
the outdoors with a love of food, friends and philanthropy. On July 8, the Vail Valley Foundation kicks off its inaugural Trek to Table event, which benefits the art, athletic and educational missions of the Vail Valley Foundation. Hikers will work up an appetite on a nine-mile hike on Arrowhead and Beaver Creek Mountains, following routes of varying difficulty. Along the way, they’ll have the opportunity to snack and dine at prestigious private-cabin restaurants, including Broken Arrow Restaurant for breakfast, Zach’s Cabin for refreshments, Beano’s Cabin for lunch, and Allie’s Cabin for an après-hike snack. Those who enjoy this event will want to mark their calendars for the fourth annual Hike, Wine, & Dine event in Beaver Creek on September 23, which benefits Jack’s Place, a cancer caring house, and the Shaw Regional Cancer Center. This hike of less than five miles begins at Beaver Creek’s Centennial Lift (after mimosas and coffee at the Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek) and allows hikers to taste-test foods from some favorite local restaurants along the way, including Splendido at the Chateau, Grouse Mountain Grill, The Dusty Boot, and The Osprey. The hike finishes on the Chophouse lawn, with music, crab cakes and dessert from Rimini. With the help of the Beaver Creek hiking center, you can plan your own itinerary any day of the week from Beaver Creek village to fine-dining endpoints in the nearby Bachelor Gulch or Arrowhead communities. And with the Beaver Creek Dial-A-Ride on-call shuttle service for Beaver Creek property owners and guests, you’ll always have a way to get safely back to your starting point.
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