FREDRIK MARMSATER (CLIMBER), DANE CRONIN/TANDEM IMAGES (BIKERS), CAINE DELACY/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX (TUBING); NG MAPS
SOAR ABOVE IT ALL
One of the surest ways to
get high in Boulder is to
take to the skies. “Gliding
here is like surfing in
Hawaii. There are few other
places like it in the U.S.,”
says Brooks Mershon, man-
ager and pilot at Mile High
Gliding. The company
offers flights in two motor-
less Schweizer 2-32s, one
of which the U.S. Navy
used for stealth surveil-
lance during the Vietnam
War. Summer thermals and
winter westerlies create
ideal conditions, allowing
gliders to soar for hours.
After being towed up by a
small plane, you and your
pilot (seated behind you)
cut the cord and rise as
high as 14,000 feet for
bird’s-eye perspectives on
Boulder, Denver, and, if it’s
a clear day, dramatic peaks
hundreds of miles west.HOP ON A MOUNTAIN BIKE
While Boulder has earned
a reputation as a road-
cycling mecca, the fat-tire
crowd has cornered its
own hilly terrain. One gem:
Heil Valley Ranch, north
of town, which features
more than 15 miles of
trail through meadows,
pine-studded climbs and
descents, and stretches of
interlocked rocks. Once a
quarry that yielded sand-
stone for the university
buildings, Heil is now home
to wild turkeys. Look for
them scuttling through
fields next to the trails.
Closer to Pearl Street, the
Betasso Preserve offers
some nine miles of mostly
single track, including a
secluded section along
Fourmile Creek. Newbies
can roll to Marshall Mesa,
south of town, to explore
grasslands and airy forests.HIKE TO THE FLATIRONS
Chautauqua Park, lying
below the Flatirons, is an
heirloom from 1898, when
residents voted to buy
80 acres in Boulder’s first
public land deal. But the
real escape lies in the trails
beyond the park, which are
part of a 155-mile network
managed by the city’s
Open Space and Mountain
Parks department. “This
is a biodiversity hotspot
with the highest breeding
bird densities in Colorado,”
says Dave Sutherland, the
department’s interpretive
naturalist. From Chautau-
qua Meadow—dotted with
wildflowers from April to
October—hike into the
pines and, legs and lungs
willing, climb a thousand
vertical feet to reach Royal
Arch, a rock formation
granting princely views of
the Flatirons and the town.Outdoor adventures in
Boulder include, from
left, climbing the slanted
slabs of the Flatirons,
biking the Marshall Mesa
Trail through protected
grasslands, and tubing
in Boulder Creek.200 mi
200 kmDenver
Boulder
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WY NE
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AZ TXCOLORADO KS
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019