Choosing the location of our next hiking trip has always been one of the hardest things for me to do. I have an endless list of parks and towns that I want to get to, and trying to prioritize them is stressful! Do we want to check out somewhere new? Or do we want to go back to somewhere we have already been because we know the area better now and can hit everything we missed the first time? This was the case with Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. We wanted to check out a few trails we couldn’t get to the first time, and the travel and planning felt less daunting since we had already been there. Each national park has its own challenges with distance from the airport, lodging, staying in proximity to the park, and necessary permits for certain roads or parts of the park. Being familiar with all of this made planning much easier so we planned to add another stop on the trip, Fort Collins!

After a few days of incredible hiking, we headed to Fort Collins. But on the way there we met up with our friends who were on a road trip for a horseback riding adventure at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch in Loveland, CO! I have ridden for most of my life so I will take any opportunity to ride in a new beautiful place. Billy and our friends are also experienced riders so we were ready to add another experience to the trip. They have different length trail rides, experienced wranglers, well behaved horses and miles of beautiful trails. If you are in the area we absolutely recommend them!

After our ride, we headed to Fort Collins to check into our Air Bnb and our friends headed to the local KOA. We stayed in a very cute ADU over someones garage in the back of their yard. It was absolutely perfect for what we needed and had the added bonus of being able to see the owners dogs in their yard every day!

Fort Collins is a very cute town with lots of charm, restaurants and shops. It felt very safe and was a great location to get to activities like hiking, horseback riding and paddle boarding. Like every place we have traveled to, I wish we had more time there!

Paddle boarding has been on my vacation to do list for YEARS but it was always too cold because we like to travel before the busy season in late May/early June. We ALMOST went paddle boarding in Lake Powell, but for some reason my husband was super against it and really wanted to kayak. It turned out to be a very lucky decision because a storm started to move in on our way back and paddling against the wind and current was extremely difficult. I am not sure we would have been able to make it back if we were on paddle boards.

We woke up to beautiful weather and headed to HorseTooth Reservoir to pick up our paddle boards from Whats SUP Stand Up Paddle Boarding! After a quick orientation, we were set loose on the reservoir to explore and enjoy the day. The water was pretty calm so I was able to stand and paddle, but it is not easy! I alternated between kneeling and standing while I paddled and managed to not fall in the water! The reservoir was a good temperature, but getting back on the board seemed like a pretty difficult task so I wasn’t in a hurry to try it. The farther out we went, the stronger the current so once we felt like it got too difficult we started heading back.

At the time of writing this, I am not able to find the prices on their website since they are not open for the season but I will update it as soon as I can find them! Overall it was a very affordable experience and a beautiful way to spend half a day in the Fort Collins area.