Devil's Causeway--This hike in the Flattops Wilderness area is not for the timid. I consider myself fairly brave and willing to try most things, but I still haven't made it the whole way across. You can look at 2-D pictures of the thin strip of path that plummets hundreds of feet on both sides, but it is nothing like actually crossing it. The path narrows to a few feet, but the freaky thing for me is that it isn't flat. It requires stepping up and down--and it's that 2 foot step down onto an especially thin part that hangs me up every time. I'm told people cross it on horses--they're nuts--and my kids have no problem going back and forth. But when an afternoon storm is rolling in and the wind is picking up and you know you better get down without turning into a human lightening rod, it's real easy to turn around and say you'll cross it the next time.
Winter Carnival--The second weekend in February, Steamboat celebrates Winter Carnival. This four day event involves the whole town: the high schoolers make ice sculptures, the local kids get pulled down Lincoln Avenue by horses, and the entire Winter Sports Club puts on their fireproof snowsuits for an amazing trip down Howelson Hill. The street events require carting in snow to cover Lincoln Avenue for several blocks.
Rabbit Ears X-Country Skiing and Snowshoeing
Hiking to the Quarry
Botanic Garden--What I love about the Botanic Garden is the ever-changing, always blooming perennials that always look good--and I don't ever have to pull a weed. Our growing season is short--56 days--because we live in a valley where cold air settles. In fact, Leadville (at 10,430 feet) has a longer growing season than we do. The Botanic Garden is tucked behind the Hampton Inn and accessed by the bike trail or the soccer field parking lot. There is no better place to enjoy the ponds, birds, and fragrant flowers than Thursday afternoons when the city offers free concerts at noon. Hundreds of people gather on the grass overlooking the pond and eat their lunch while enjoying music from musicians who play at Strings in the Mountains. I can't ride my bike on the Core Trail without stopping for a quick trip through the Botanic Garden to see what's blooming or to spot a hummingbird darting around in the honeysuckle blossoms. Town volunteers meet weekly to keep the gardens in top shape, and they post what plants are at their peak on a blackboard right inside the Core Trail entrance.
Steamboat Summers--
Tubing on the Yampa--From the time the weather warms up and the water level goes from torrential (spring melt) to floatable, the Yampa is polka-dotted with yellow tubes. Slather on the sun screen and take a leisurely float down the river. It offers an interesting vantage point you can't see from a road or the bike trail. Right across from the Old Town Hot Springs, the warm water empties into the Yampa. It's a perfect place to let the kids play in warm water or to warm up if the sun ducks behind a cloud. Float further down the river and you'll go through some faster-moving water and over the A, B, C, and D Holes. The local teens hang-out by the C-Hole behind the Bud Werner Library. They shout "Lean Back!" to unsuspecting tourists as they go over the drop, and laugh every time when one of them flips over. Don't fall for it.
Bud Light Concert Series (in the winter) and free Summer Concert Series (in the summer) --In the winter, you can find me on Saturday afternoons at the Bear River, drinking a Bud Light (it's always good to plug the sponsor) and listening to music. They have great regional and national bands that offer great ski-boot-tapping, helmet-hair-nodding music. When the skies are blue, the temperature is warm and you're stripped down to a T-shirt and snowpants working on your goggle tan, life doesn't get any better! In the summer, the stage is set up so that the people sit on the ski hill. Families bring blankets and lawn chairs to meet their friends and people-watch (which, by the way, was very good during the Rainbow People Festival last summer).
Mountain Biking I got a new bike last summer and went to the women's clinics offered by Abi Slingsby and Jody Gale through Steamboat Ski and Bike Care. For the first time I was on Emerald Mountain, going down a steep (to me) hill without my brakes on full blast. What a rush! Click on the Mountain Biking tab to see elevation gains, local favorites, and lots of places to bike around Steamboat.
Steamboat Weather-- I lived in the East for many decades before relocating to Steamboat, and I still have friends and relatives who haven't visited who say, "You must be cold out there in Colorado." Well, no. We're not, thank you. In fact, it's warmer on a 30 degree blue sky Colorado day than a 60 degree gray East coast day....ANY day! The snow is fluffy white, the skies are bluer than blue, and the summer nights are so cool you don't need air conditioning.