Sipping a beverage after an adventure—in the woods, on the water, on a sheer rock—holds a special place for Coloradans. It is the exclamation point to any outdoor escapade and signals a triumphant return to the comforts of home. But sometimes a lukewarm Banquet in the trailhead parking lot just won’t cut it. You need an icy draft, a friendly bartender, and the sort of burger that requires a two-handed approach.
Our team compiled a list of 7 post-excursion watering holes that have all that, plus drink specials, outdoor patios, and even karaoke. They’re the sort of spots where you can wear your Chacos without apology and catch the score to the Broncos game before cruising back to the city.
Windjammer Roadhouse
3431 S. County Road 31, Loveland
We’d forgive you for grading the fare at any of these establishments on a curve, but it’d be in vain at the Windjammer Roadhouse. This veritable Texas smokehouse is perched above Carter Lake Reservoir in Loveland. Here, campers and boaters (and bikers) enjoy slow-cooked pit barbecue (brisket, pulled pork, turkey, and sausage links) that outshines much of the smoked stuff offered closer to Denver. (Also nice: buckets of Bud steps from the marina.) Grab a low-top table to watch karaoke performances that are improved by drinks from the well, or if the restaurant’s namesake gusts abate, snag a picnic table on the patio to catch the low-hanging sun disappear behind the spruces.
Two Bears Tap and Grill
33295 U.S. 6, Idaho Springs
Tucked at the bottom of I-70’s Floyd Hill, Two Bears Tap and Grill is the kinda place you might notice—and then keep on driving by. Big mistake. Huge. Instead of screaming back to the plains after whitewater rafting on Clear Creek or summiting Grays and Torreys Peaks, take a chance on this modest-looking roadhouse. We suggest pulling up a stool at the wooden bar top or a chair on the expansive mountainside patio, ordering fried pickle chips and the elk sausage smothered with green chile, and washing it down with an icy draft beer.
Canyon Grill
4791 W. County Road 38 E, Fort Collins
We think the tagline for this Fort Collins biker bar should be: Near Horsetooth Reservoir, nearer to heaven. After a day spent on flowy singletrack in the high desert, perhaps you’ll agree. Located across County Road 38 from the seven-mile-long jewel, Canyon Grill dishes up big ol’ burgers and pizzas and a flight of delightful apps (fried pickles, bottle caps, jalapeño poppers) fit to fill a famished mountain biker or trail runner. A dark dining room is a welcome reprieve for crisped boaters, but the patio is tough to beat when the mist machines pump and a live band jams in front of a Landshark Lager surfboard. Snag a wrought-iron table next to the flower boxes, which overflow with pink and white blooms this time of year.
The Mishawaka
13714 Poudre Canyon Highway, Bellvue
If you’ve lived in Colorado for any amount of time, you should know the Mish. If you have and you don’t, shame on you for missing out on one of the Centennial State’s last perfect places. For more than 100 years, this riverside oasis—which has a bar, a restaurant, and a concert venue—has given Poudre Canyon adventurers a place to kick up their (usually dirty) feet after a day of hiking, fishing, or whitewater rafting. Grab an Odell’s, a grilled buffalo burger, and a seat on the expansive, umbrella-bedecked patio overlooking the rushing river.
Platte River Bar & Grill
5995 S. Santa Fe Drive, Littleton
Located less than a football field from the South Platte River (and its adjacent paved trail), this decades-old Littleton icon is everything a roadhouse should be—and more. With two inside bars, a full roster of macro and micro brews and spirits, an elevated patio deck with umbrellas, live music five days a week, and a Mexican-forward menu, Platte River Bar & Grill is where you want to be after a day spent boating on nearby Chatfield Reservoir or getting a line wet on the South Platte. Don’t miss happy hour, which is actually four hours long—from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Covered Wagon Restaurant and Saloon
15 E. First St., Nederland
Like a siren’s call to hikers exiting the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Covered Wagon boasts $3 domestics and burgers! Don’t forget the sammies south of $14 and a dessert menu, too. As you’d expect of any establishment in Ned, it’s decidedly charming! This saloon offers an old piano, mining tools, and a vintage cigarette machine. Browse the antiques, then park tired legs outside at an umbrella-covered picnic bench for grub and several brews.
Pub Down Under
626 Lake Dillon Ave., Dillon
Dillon’s family-friendly Arapahoe Café may be famous for its down-home breakfast menu, but it has a secret: the Pub Down Under. Hidden below the cafe, find a stool at the corrugated-metal bar—plus everything a good dive needs, including $5 Coors Light drafts and PBR tall boys, a selection of craft brews, access to the full menu upstairs, and special dishes only available to bar patrons (go for the Philly cheesesteak). It’s also cool and dark—a perfect escape from the sun after a long day on the water.
Contributions from: 5280.com
