Top 16 Things to Do in Colorado in the Summer
Whitewater Rafting
For most family travelers, Colorado means Rocky Mountain ski resorts. Denverites and other Coloradans, however, know how much fun awaits in the summer months, and flock to the Roaring Fork Valley and other destinations for river and mountain experiences.
Why should they have all the fun? Fly into Denver, rent a car, and you too can enjoy a bonanza of white water rafting, river kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, ziplining over a river... Read about these and more, including affordable Aspen, family-friendly farm-to-table eateries, and a cool new trend in Colorado: free river parks where surfing waves have been engineered.
The Roaring Fork Valley includes Aspen, Snowmass Village, Basalt, Carbondale, and Glenwood Springs. Mount Sopris and the Roaring Fork River of course (which is a tributary of the Colorado River.
White water rafting is exciting fun for teens, and even kids as young as six can get in on the act. Most white water rafting companies offer a range of experiences, from easy floats to challenging rapids. A Class I ride means "easy gentle moving water with small waves or obstacles", and families will typically choose Class I or II white water rafting trips.
Typically, guests team up in multi-person inflatable rafts with at least one guide per raft. Every crew member is expected to paddle as the guide instructs, and paddling is a big part of the fun.
Blazing Adventures is one of several companies that offer white water rafting in the Roaring Fork Valley. The minimum age can be as young as six for half-day trips on the lower, middle, or upper Roaring Fork River. Blazing Adventures also has a novelty trip for families: Pirate Rafting Trips for ages 5 and up. These trips include a treasure hunt as well.
River Kayaking
River kayaks are sporty and fun: smaller, lighter and rudderless compared to sea kayaks, and they turn on a dime. Taking a lesson or two in Colorado is an opportunity to try something new, plus a super way to experience the mountain scenery.
Aspen Kayak Academy offers half-day, full day and multi-day lessons on the Roaring Fork River and the Colorado River, and multi-day expeditions as well. Beginners will start on flat-water lakes or in a Class 1 beginner zone in the Northstar Nature Preserve.
No experience is necessary to take a lesson that will include instruction in calm water plus a chance to try out your new skills. Ages 12 and up can participate, and the ability to swim is a prerequisite. Private and special kids' sessions may be available for younger kids. You can stay in Aspen and explore the area before or after your river kayaking experience.
Stand Up Paddleboarding
From Oahu to Florida, the trendy new thing to try on a family vacation these days is Stand Up Paddleboarding. Many people try this new watersport at the beach, but in Colorado, families can try stand up paddleboarding lessons in a river setting, with Aspen Kayak Academy. Kids age 12 and up can try (and ability to swim is a prerequisite.)
Vacationers who try SUP with Aspen Kayak Academy can take some pride in knowing that instructor Charlie MacArthur -- at the Aspen Kayak and SUP Academy-- pioneered stand up paddleboarding in Colorado; there's even a SUP river board named after him.
Zipline Across the Colorado River
Another way to experience a river in Colorado: ride a zip line 350 feet across the river at Glenwood Canyon Zipline Adventures, and then ride another zip line back again.
All you need is the nerve to step off the platform: no skills required, and kids are welcome. A minimum height of 48 inches is required, and all kids must be accompanied by a participating adult.
Glenwood Canyon Zipline Adventures also offers a rope course, good food you can enjoy overlooking the river, rafting outings, and cabins for rent.
Glenwood Hot Springs Pool
Long before the era of the family car trips that bring most people to Glenwood Springs today, travellers came by train to soak in the town's famous mineral-rich hot springs.
Back in the 1880's, therapeutic bathing in mineral spas was a popular practice. Victorian-era explorers found these hot springs in 1860, and by 1888 the town of Glenwood Springs had the world’s largest hot springs pool: its long stretch can be seen behind the waterslide in the photo above. Presidents, aristocrats, and celebrities were among the guests who came to soak in the pool and stay in the deluxe Hotel Colorado. The poolside red sandstone bathhouse and lodge offered top amenities of the day, such as a ladies' parlor and Roman vapor baths.
Today the pool has a wading pool for kids and a giant water slide, and the original sandstone lodge (visible above, to the right of the pool) houses the Spa of the Rockies - a "spa" in the modern sense of massages and other treatments for health and pampering.
The large pool is open year-round, with a constant temperature of 90°-93° F. A smaller therapy pool averages about 104° F. Three-and-a-half million gallons of hot mineral water rise daily from the spring.