Colorado - Day 3: Manitou Springs to Breckenridge
The hot air balloon ride with Adventures Out West that had originally been scheduled for Sunday and then rescheduled for Monday because of Saturday’s rain wound up being cancelled entirely. Adventures Out West needed at least four people for the ride to operate, and unfortunately, a couple and I were the only three people who had booked it. With only three of us, there weren’t enough people for them to operate the balloon.
I had been so excited to go on my first hot air balloon ride! Luckily, they were able to give me a full refund, so no harm, no foul. I was still really disappointed that it didn’t happen on this trip, but I’m looking forward to finally making it happen someday!
Since I no longer had the hot air balloon ride that morning, I spent Monday, August 24, 2026 exploring the parts of Manitou Springs I hadn’t gotten to yet. Afterward, I drove to River Mountain Lodge in Breckenridge to check into my hotel for the second part of my trip.
Manitou Springs
Before leaving Manitou Springs, I spent a little more time wandering around town and stopping at a few places I had missed earlier in the trip. My first, and basically only, stop was Seven Minute Spring, located at 422 Washington Avenue. I had purposely skipped it on my first day because it was farther east than the rest of the springs I had been visiting.
I’m very happy I made the nine-minute walk east from my hotel because it ended up being the prettiest of the springs I visited. Seven Minute Spring sits in a small park with a gazebo, giving it a much more picturesque setting than the other springs I had photographed around town. The spring was originally drilled in 1909, and its name comes from the naturally carbonated water once erupting at roughly seven-minute intervals.
I then walked back to The Cliff House at Pikes Peak to check out, packed my things into the car, and started the drive to Breckenridge.
Manitou Springs to Breckenridge
I left The Cliff House at Pikes Peak around 11:00am, taking US-24 W and CO-9 N toward Breckenridge. The roughly 100-mile drive takes a little over two hours without stops. Along the way, I stopped at the Wilkerson Pass Visitor Center, which overlooks the vast, open landscape of South Park, with mountain ranges rising in the distance.
The Visitor Center also has restrooms, interpretive displays, a gift shop, and a short interpretive trail. I didn’t hike the trail, but I spent some time enjoying the view and taking photos before getting back on the road.
From Wilkerson Pass, I continued on to River Mountain Lodge in Breckenridge and checked into my hotel. I chose to stay at River Mountain Lodge because it was just a short walk from downtown Breckenridge, parking was included, the hotel had a hot tub, and I found it to be affordable at $478 for four nights.
While Breckenridge was my main base for the trip, it sits at about 9,600 feet. Coming from Chicago, which sits at about 597 feet, I knew the jump in elevation would be significant. I had intentionally started my Colorado trip at a lower elevation for a couple of days rather than traveling directly from Chicago to the mountains.
Spending about 12 hours in Breckenridge before attempting Mount Sherman the next morning would at least give me a little more time to adjust to the elevation.
Once I was settled in, I made myself some dinner, relaxed for the rest of the day, and headed to bed very early in preparation for hiking Mount Sherman at sunrise the next morning.
