When you imagine a perfect summer evening, wide-open spaces, a roaring fire, s’mores, and the dreamy glow of the sun setting probably comes to mind.
Throw in a multi-course BBQ dinner, a night of jeeping under the stars, classic tunes to set the mood, and Colorado landscapes that’ll take your breath away, and you may have just found your own slice of heaven. Go ahead, pinch yourself, it’s real.
And it can happen any night of the week in Snowmass.
Blazing Adventure’s Sunset Jeep Tours are fun for the whole family and BYO for the adults. A throwback to your childhood camp days and reminiscent of the simpler days of the Wild West frontier, you’ll be picked up in a bumblebee yellow jeep to caravan up Coney Glade to the backside of Snowmass ski area. You’ll have the whole mountain to yourself to take photos on the stationary lifts with the entire Roaring Fork Valley in the distance. The sun casts that perfect hazy light to illuminate the incredible backdrop and make the moment even more magical. Just you and the mountains at 10,000 feet, it’s an exhilarating high like you’re breaking some rule and not supposed to be there, but yes, this setup really is all for you.
Off in the distance, you’ll see Ziegler Reservoir and the guides will tell you the tale of the incredible Ice Age fossils that were found there less than 5 years ago. What would become one of the most important archaeological digs in North America, more than 5,000 bones of mammoths, sloths, mastodons, and 41 different animals were uncovered here, many of which can be seen at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science or at the free Ice Age Discovery Center in Snowmass Village, where you can actually touch the teeth and the bones, another hint at days gone by.
When the group’s ready, you’ll continue caravanning up to historic Burlingame Cabin, your scene for the evening. A summertime gem, the campsite is completely buried in 5 feet of snow in winter and you’d never know this remote cabin even existed if not for a few shirts thrown over the cook station as markers. Miles from everything atop beautiful Mt. Daly, admire the wildflowers surrounding the pristine lake at your own private log cabin. There’s corn hole, horseshoes and roping for the cowboys in training and a campfire musician is there to set the mood with old favorites like “Wagon Wheel” and “Landslide.” One of our fellow jeep-mates even grabbed a guitar and started playing right along with him and the sing-along really got started.
And then there was the food. Oh, so much food. Catered by Big Hoss Grill in Snowmass Village, we stuffed our faces for hours with chips and guac, a hearty vegetable soup that even the kids loved, salad, grilled salmon, ribs, burgers, mac and cheese, and corn, being sure to save room for the brownies and s’mores for dessert. It was a true family style feast with 20+ of our new friends and a perfect night under the stars.
Sponsored by Snowmass Tourism