4 Southwestern Summer Getaways

From the rivers of Colorado to the red rocks of Utah and Arizona, you don’t have to travel far to feel like you’re getting away from it all. Here are four epic trips to take this summer

Drop a Line at the Broadmoor Fishing Camp

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Just beyond the mountains west of Colorado Springs runs the Tarryall Creek, where former miners cabins have been transformed into a rustic-chic fishing camp that offers one-on-one instruction and simple pleasures. The Broadmoor Fishing Camp is located in South Park, a vast grassland basin situated about 10,000 feet above sea level, where ranchers settled in the 1800s and gold miners followed. Driving over the Continental Divide on Kenosha Pass, the road descends quickly and you’re stunned by the raw beauty of the landscape that was created by a prehistoric sea. The jagged mountainsides of the Mosquito and Park ranges bracket the basin, which sprawls across roughly 1,000 square miles.
>>Read more about the Broadmoor Fishing Camp  

Eat Your Heart Out at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Los Poblanos Inn has been drawing visitors since Congressman Albert Simms purchased the Albuquerque ranch in the 1930s. Today, it’s a food-lovers’ retreat, where guests can literally enjoy the fruits of the working organic farm. Originally inhabited by the ancient Pueblo peoples — master craftsmen and architects — Los Poblanos was most recently part of an 800-acre ranch owned by Congressman Albert Simms and his wife, Ruth Hanna McCormick. In the 1930s and ’40s, the progressive couple put the land
to use as an experimental farm, running agricultural research projects like the cultivation of sugar beets, along with alfalfa, oats, corn and barley, in an attempt to wean America off foreign imports. They also leased some of the land to Creamland Dairies and its herd of Guernsey and Holstein cows, providing much of Albuquerque’s milk. But most notably, they commissioned the region’s foremost architect, John Gaw Meem — a man whose name is now synonymous with Santa Fe style — to convert their ranch house into a cultural center. Today, La Quinta Cultural Center is considered one of the most important historical structures in the North Valley, and stands in testament to Meem’s enduring architectural genius.
>>Read more about staying (and eating) at Los Poblanos  

Paddleboard Lake Powell

Page, Arizona

Thanks to its dubious spring break reputation, Lake Powell may not seem like an ideal destination for quiet beauty and solitude. Discover the off-season pleasure of stand-up paddleboarding this much-loved gem. On your way to the lake, pick up two SUPs from Lake Powell Paddleboards in Page. The marinas also rent them, but Lake Powell Paddleboards uses higher-quality boards, which are easier to maneuver and balance. Head to the Utah side of Lake Powell, where there is an undeveloped beach on a southwest swath of shore known as Lone Rock. There, you can camp for only $10 a night anywhere along the beach — a wide, flat expanse about a half-mile long. The sand is clean and soft, with no paved boat launch, which explains why the beach is often deserted.
>>Read more about camping and paddling at Lake Powell

Explore Arizona’s Wine Country

Cottonwood, Arizona

Cottonwood’s charming Main Street has become an essential outpost for the Grand Canyon State’s burgeoning wine industry — head to the Verde Valley to get a taste.
Named for a circle of 16 cottonwood trees near the Verde, one of Arizona’s last free-flowing rivers, Cottonwood was founded as a farming settlement in 1879. Hay, grain and vegetables thrived in the rich, river-fed soil — as did grasses, cactuses, and mesquite and juniper trees. Today, though, that same sweet dirt is best known as the foundation for the state’s wine culture.
Many vineyards and wineries — Alcantara, Caduceus (powered by Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan), Javelina Leap, Arizona Stronghold and Page Springs Cellars among them — have popped up in the Verde Valley over the past decade, taking advantage of the sunshine and rocky soil that grows enviable grapes. Stress, it seems, causes a vine to produce fewer but more intensely flavored fruit — brave, bold fruit that makes the type of wine that master makers (and consumers) crave. In turn, the wineries have sparked the Verde Valley Wine Trail.
>>Read more about where to eat, drink and stay in Cottonwood