Every lap around the sun is different.

By now, just about everyone recognizes the night-and-day contrast between spring 2011 and spring 2012. From last year’s summer that nearly never happened to this spring’s incomprehensibly early thaw, Memorial Day weekend is about to rediscover its reputation as the unofficial kickoff to the Colorado summer. Especially in the high country.

Booking a Memorial Day weekend getaway in the mountains has always been a bit of a gamble. More often than not, the so-called summer kickoff celebration morphs into a mud-season homecoming complete with rain, snow and generally grizzly conditions. The rivers are running cold and fast, most mountain trails are closed to hiking and biking, and the campfire sizzle is due to seasonal drizzle.

But not this time around.

At the risk of jinxing it, the sucker bet of yesteryear is all but a sure thing in the Colorado Rockies this Memorial Day. In fact, Colorado’s high country is looking and feeling a lot more like June 20, the official start of summer, than the long weekend stand-in that steals the credit almost a month before.

Read about 5 suggestions for Memorial Weekend fun.