Take a Dip, 5280, May 2006
Steamboat Springs’ champagne powder morphs into sparkling waterholes perfect for summertime swimming.
As you accelerate over throat-searing, sagebrush-studded U.S. Route 40, you’ll think I’ve lied about Steamboat’s swimming holes, and all my talk of waterfalls will seem like a mirage. Belief won’t return till you serpentine down the west side of Rabbit Ears Pass to peer over a valley so verdant, it could pass for Vermont--except this is Vermont on steroids, with pumped-up streams and lakes courtesy of the mighty Park Range and its knack for wringing moisture out of westerly winds. Sure, this creates the staggering quantity of champagne powder Steamboaters like to brag about, but people here also like to repeat how they “came for the winters but stayed for the summers”--a local cliché made popular by smug year-round residents who feel they’re in on the summertime secret. I’m of that camp.
My first tip to you is this: Downtown should be your home base for your water weekend. The resort area just a few miles from Old Town is hopping while the snow flies, but from June through September it’s got the creepy vibe of an empty amusement park. Stay in town instead, where two parallel thoroughfares form Steamboat’s summer heart: Lincoln Avenue, lined with lively shops and restaurants, and the affable Yampa River, a magnet for kayakers, anglers, kids, dogs, and tubers—a top-of-the-water species common in these waters.
You’ll itch to jump immediately in the water, but you’ll want to take your time, check into your hotel, and check out the landscape before you launch. Downtown offers two standout places to stay. The Steamboat Bed and Breakfast is a pretty property two blocks off the main drag, and manager Barbara LeRoy makes sure guests meet, mingle, and chow big-time on the breakfast feast. The garden patio is perfect for savoring summer sunsets, and although the décor may be country, this B&B is no prude: The outdoor hot tub is clothing optional as long as you shout “naked!” to warn approaching guests. Those who prefer a little more anonymity should head for the Hotel Bristol. Its 23 rooms are cozy and quiet, and all are restored in 1940’s Western style, with pedestal sinks, snazzy black-and-white bathroom tile, and cradle telephones (push-button, not rotary). The Bristol also offers group-friendly family rooms, which have two bedrooms with a central bathroom.
Either option makes it convenient to explore the town on foot, which is exactly what you should do after you settle into your digs. Since the cold mountain air makes early-morning tubing a bit nippy, a hike to Fish Creek Falls gives you a glimpse of the water without the goose bumps. It’s an easy 0.3 miles to the base of a burly, 283-foot waterfall, where a handful of Steamboat kayakers put in to enjoy the adrenaline-soaked springtime ritual of paddling Fish Creek. Most folks, though, prefer to just snap a photo in front of our little Niagara and maybe continue across the bridge and along 2.2 miles of steep trail to the Upper Falls, another impressive gusher you’re likely to have all to yourself.
Refuel after your hike with lunch on the Steamboat Yacht Club’s enormous outdoor deck, overlooking the river. The burger’s good, but my favorite is the coconut shrimp salad; as you eat, you’re sure to notice (and be entertained by) the many white-bellied tubers floating lazily downstream. The Yampa’s whitewater is tame enough to tackle in an inner tube, and doing so is one of Steamboat’s joys of summer. Yeah, the fly-fishermen (my husband included) like to complain about the “rubber hatch” that fouls the river from late June through August, but even they inevitably give in to the urge to float on the current.
You’ll want to launch in the warmer afternoon air just after lunch, and if you didn’t bring your own tube Backdoor Sports will rent you one and shuttle you, too. But we locals collect our own tubes just for this purpose, and we like to put in at Rotary Park, by the Mt. Werner Road exit off Route 40. Don your swimsuit and a sturdy pair of river shoes, lash a little cooler to your tube, and shove off downstream.
Some sections are pretty placid (these are good places to take a swig from that can you’re holding) but others include little splashy drops, which are only tricky because it’s almost impossible to steer a tube--that, and you risk getting river water in your drink. You can pause to have a picnic if you like (Dr. Rich Weiss Park, behind the Rabbit Ears Motel, is a good spot with riverside picnic tables) but I’m a fan of just going with the flow, gazing up at the ski jumps on Howelsen Hill, waving to the diners on the Yacht Club deck, and enjoying the shifting sensations of warm summer sun and cool mountain water.
Your cue that the ride’s almost over is the sulfur smell of the hot springs near the Bud Werner Memorial Library and the 13th Street bridge. The very next bridge down is a small footbridge; take out here at the Stockbridge Transit Center, so you can catch a free city bus back to your car.
Come evening, a free outdoor concert trumps all other entertainment options. Steamboat’s Summer Concert Series typically runs from late June to early September, bringing acts like Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Bela Fleck, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Cracker. Locals turn out in droves--giddy over free fun in a town where your mortgage looms large--to roll out a blanket, unfold a lawn chair, and groove to the tunes as the sun dips down. Or, for a more refined evening of music, the Strings in the Mountains Music Festival offers classical concerts as well as jazz, country, rock and bluegrass music. Strings’ tent venue in Music Festival Park lets you savor the music and the mountains at the same time, so the evening breezes tickle your neck but don’t interfere with the acoustics, which are good enough to fool you into thinking you’re in a proper hall. But you’re not—you’re in Steamboat, which is so much better.
Tomorrow there’s mountain biking, horseback riding, and all the great things in Steamboat. Play hard and work up a sweat—the Yampa’s waterholes are always just a splash away.
Floating barbeque: A state park 45 minutes north of town, 1,056-acre Steamboat Lake is ringed with rugged mountains and rents pontoon boats equipped with grills; you bring the stocked cooler. From $100 for 2 hours, 970/879-7019, www.steamboatlakemarina.com
Hooked up: Stop by Straightline Sports for spot-on advice about where and how to snag monster local trout. Or, bring an expert with you: Rich and Daren are the best guides in town. 744 Lincoln Ave., 970/879-7568
Egg-cellent brekkie: The Creekside Café and Grill serves deliciously light eggs Benedict on an outdoor patio bordered by a babbling brook. 131 Eleventh St., 970/879-4925
Stiff pours: Sip a hurricane from a riverside lounge chair at Sunpies, where the lawn parties last well into the night. 735 Yampa, 970/870-3360
Big-buckle bar: Rodeo cowboys ease their aches and pains with a beer at the Tugboat Grill & Pub, where live tunes have them shaking harder than the broncs and bulls did. 1860 Ski Time Square Dr., 970/879-7070
The skinny: With a setting that’s clothing-optional after dark, Strawberry Park Hot Springs is beloved by locals and tourists alike. $10 per person, 44200 County Rd 36, 970/879-0342, www.strawberryhotsprings.com
