Mountain Mama Summer: A Family Summer in Colorado — Fifty

Mountain Mama Summer: Our 5-Week Colorado Adventure with a Toddler

Upper & Lower Trail in Crested Butte, CO

This summer, we did something that felt a little wild—we packed up and spent five whole weeks in Colorado with our toddler and pup. It was equal parts ambitious and amazing, and we’re already dreaming of how to do it again next year.

This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment adventure. It was a long-held dream, born from our deep love of Colorado and a desire to keep that part of our lives alive even after moving back to North Carolina.

Why Colorado?

When we made the hard decision to leave Golden, Colorado—a place we absolutely loved living—to move closer to family in North Carolina, we promised ourselves we’d find ways to hold on to the parts of Colorado that brought us the most joy. For us, that’s summer in the mountains.

Since we’re not big skiers, the warm season is when Colorado truly shines. And as we thought about the long term, we realized that once our daughter is on a traditional school schedule, summers in Colorado will make a lot more sense than visiting in the winter. So, we set a goal: starting summer 2026, we’d spend as much time as possible back in Colorado each year.

So we made it happen—this first summer was a 5-week trip, and while it took planning, it was everything we hoped for.

A Snapshot of Our Itinerary

We covered a lot of ground during our Colorado summer with a toddler, and this was our route:

Golden – 1 night to kick things off that was spent visiting our most missed restaurants in town - The Eddy, Cafe 13, Bonfire Burritos and walking along the river

Crested Butte – 7 nights that was all about hiking among the wildflowers and wandering the shops and restaurants down town. Of the wildflower hikes Rustler’s Gulch was the highlight but also enjoyed, Three Lakes Trail, Lake Irwin, The Trailhead Kids Museum, and some great good at the Slogar, Secret Stash Pizza and the Breadery

Buena Vista – 2 nights a mix of work and play. We did The Lost Lake Trail at the top of Cottonwood Pass, Splashed in the Arkansas River and hit up the different playgrounds in BV and almost filled up a loyalty punch card at Louie’s Ice Cream Shop over our short stay.

Piney River Ranch – 2 nights spent outdoors & totally disconnected at one of our favorite spots in Colorado . This was our third trip to Piney River Ranch and it never disappoints! The views, cooking at the grill, the wildlife, hiking and paddle boarding, sunsets, and campfires make for the most incredible stay, this is a spot is becoming an annual family tradition of ours.

Silverthorne / Summit County – 3 weeks of mountain living. We spent more time working here vs being on PTO but still enjoyed getting outside in the evenings, longer hikes on the weekends, shopping and dining downtown Breckenridge & Frisco and the daily sunrises and sunsets from our porch.

Summit County was our first long stay in Colorado several years ago and will always have a special place in our hearts to the point where I pretty much cry (both happy it happened tears & sad to say goodbye tears) every time I have to leave, this trip was no different.

The Day-to-day logistics

There were a lot of moving parts that went into making this family summer in Colorado possible. Here is how we made it work:

☀️ Getting There:
We split up for travel: my husband drove our 4Runner cross-country with our 12-year-old pup and most of our gear, while I flew with our 2.5-year-old daughter. A 24-hour drive just wasn’t in the cards for a toddler, and while we don’t love splitting up during travel this approach worked well for this season of life.

💻 Balancing Work and Play:
We both work full-time corporate jobs. I currently have full remote flexibility, and my husband and less flexibility but more PTO. So we approached this trip with a blended strategy: a mix of PTO and working remotely.

We scheduled PTO around key moments—like travel days, our Crested Butte kickoff, and time at Piney River Ranch (which has no cell service or Wi-Fi). While in Summit County we worked more during the day and explored in the afternoons and weekends.

👶 Childcare Setup:
Our childcare plan was key. We played to the time zone difference by starting work early (6–8 a.m.) before our daughter woke up. We then had babysitters from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. who’d play, explore, and do lunch with her before nap time. We’d finish the workday while she napped from 1-3pm (Mountain time). We used a babysitter we had a good experience with on a prior trip for about half of the time and then filled in with a local baby sitter matching service for the balance.

Yes, the mornings were early - but working with the mountain sunrise in view and ending our days outside and hiking as a family made it totally worth it.

Favorite Moments from the Mountains

🌼 Crested Butte Wildflower Hikes in Crested Butte—unreal beauty at every turn
💧 Watching our daughter develop a love for hiking and alpine lakes - she wanted in every creek or alpine lake we came across, was fun to visit some of our favorite places with a new lens from a 2.5 year old perspective
🏞️ Piney River Ranch—breakfast by the lake, paddle boarding, and s’mores around the fire at sunset
🥾 Summit County hikes: West RidgeTrail , Timberline Lake Trail, and Spruce Creek to Mohawk Lakes. For Mohawk Lakes we made it a record distance for us to the Upper Mohawk lake and started at the upper parking lot to shave off 2 miles making it more doable with a toddler but would warn this is not an overly kid friendly hike we felt accomplished to have pulled it off with her but was one of the tougher ones we did with her this summer and didn’t see many other kids on this one.
🌅 Sunsets on the porch in Silverthorne, I don’t think we even turned on the TV once in our place all summer

Three Lakes Trail Outside of Crested Butte, CO

Lessons We’ll Take Into Next Summer

Walkability is worth the splurge.
We weren’t always able to stay in walkable areas, which limited our flexibility. Next year, we’re planning earlier to secure lodging in locations where we can walk to trails, coffee shops, and playgrounds.
Less is more when packing.
Even with in-unit laundry (a non-negotiable), we did so much laundry that I’ll pack fewer items next time. We all lived in the same few outfits anyway.

Why We Keep Coming Back

I know five weeks sounds like a lot. It is. And yes—it took effort, coordination, and resources. But for us, this is how we want to spend our time and money. These are the memories that matter.

Watching our daughter fall in love with the places and activities we cherish—it’s a kind of magic. And while we’re always tempted by new places to explore, something about this slice of Colorado keeps calling us home.

If you’ve ever considered working remotely while traveling with kids - or carving out a different kind of family summer - I hope this gives you a glimpse of what’s possible. We’re already looking ahead to next summer.

Mountain Mama Summer