Day Trips from Denver (Evans, Granby: living in, dangerous, safe)

[RollingFlats]

Hi, I'll be living in Denver as of July 1, and I'm just looking to get a little advice on what some good day trips would be this summer and even in the following months closer to Winter. I have a dog--he doesn't always have to go--and I like to hike, rollerblade, and try certain new dangerous things. (I don't have a bike, but will probably get one.) I've been skydving several times, but would like to try bungee-jumping in a really cool location where the equipment is safe and the instructors haven't smoked since at least the night before.

I also like anything strange or interesting in the sense of ghost towns, historic battle sites, caves, etc. I love to fish, so any suggestions as to where I can do so would be great, whether in the mountains or otherwise. (I don't have a boat and my license to walk on water was recently revoked, so it would have to be shore-friendly fishing for now.)

Any info on what neighboring cities/towns would be nice to see is also appreciated. I'm coming from the east coast, so my experience in the west has really been limited to California and Vegas. Anything in the region would probably be new to me.

I wouldn't mind seeing other such things as great brew pubs, parks, single women, single women in brew pubs and parks, wildlife, rafting, etc. Also, I'm a playwright, so anything to do with the arts might be of interest to me. - Thanks.

[2bindenver]

Once you land here - go in any direction until you come to something interesting, explore that. Then repeat in another direction. It would take years to explore all the state has to offer.

[80skeys]

Well, there's plenty for you to choose from.

For fishing, you've got the warmer water lakes of the plains in and around Denver. There's a wide variety of these, large and small. You'll be fishing for bass, walleye, trout, crappie, wipers.

For cold water lake fishing, there's some mountain lakes within an hour or two drive from Denver. These are Dillon Reservoir, Lake Granby, and some other ones. Here you'll fish for trout, pike, lake trout, kokanee, which are mostly your colder-water fish.

For river and streams, if you fish the rivers in and around Denver, you'll be getting mostly catfish. If you go up in the mountains 1-2 hours from Denver, it'll be trout.

As for beer, you'll be happy to hear that Colorado is well known for microbreweries. There's a lot of excellent beer to be had here!

[Scott5280]

Consider the Gold Medal waters North of Silverthorn; there are fairly decent Brownies and Rainbow
in abundance. The Snake River running through Keystone is another reasonable angler's choice.

If you travel West on 285 there is Geneva Creek, Deer Creek(Mt. Evans Wilderness) even farther is the town of Fairplay; the area surrounding the town is known as South Park,"ya that South Park." There are plenty of streams, irrigation ditches with some nice Brookies. If you decide to hit the Snake or Blue River
in Summit County, finish the day off with a stop at the Damn Brewry. Just a few ideas..have fun..