The work roads that snake across ski areas serve as routes for snowcats and snowmobiles in winter, for construction and maintenance vehicles in summer, and perhaps also for mountain biking in the off-season. I like them for Nordic Walking. Wide, relatively smooth and ascending (or descending) relatively gently, they lend themselves to walking with poles.
At Colorado's
Eldora Mountain Resort, just below the Continental Divide west of Boulder, solitude reigns. The ski area, which despite its name is not a "resort," does not operate any lifts or open any other facilities in summer (except for occasional private parties), so there is rarely anyone else on the trail either. Ski runs are ablaze with wildflowers. Birds twitter in nearby trees. And squirrels chatter and scold as the find seeds and nuts to stash away for the fast-approaching winter.
