A few weekends ago my family and I did a great hike in Beaver Creek (a couple of exits past Vail if you’re not familiar) that we’d never done before. It’s a moderately tough 3 mile hike up to Beaver Lake on the mountain at Beaver Creek. It’s a little rocky and fairly steep, but it’s worth the effort.
You simply start in the Beaver Creek Village, find the 5 Senses Trail, which I’d call a short tourist trail, and take that for half a mile until you see the Beaver Lake Trail (you can’t miss it, it’s next to the fire station).
It took us about 90 minutes to get to the lake, which is just beautiful. On the way down you can hang a right on to the Royal Elk Trail and take that for about 3 miles (it’s a little bit technical but not too bad). That will bring you to the top of the Centennial Lift where you can grab lunch and then take the lift down.
Anyway, give it a try some time and let us know what you think. The video is our dog fetching in the Lake. She loved it. Enjoy!