WINTER PARK, Colo. — Enjoy a surprising valley/mountain full of warm-weather activities when you spend your summer in "winter" — Winter Park, Colo., that is.
Approximately 480 driving miles southeast of Salt Lake City and about 80 miles west from Denver, Winter Park is an oasis of summer fun at high altitude — 9,000 feet above sea level.
"It's unbelievable how a place called Winter Park can have such amazing summers," a tourist brochure from Winter Park Resort accurately states. There are 1.3 million acres of wide-open space in the adjacent Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest.
When summer temperatures sizzle in the 90s, or higher, along Utah's Wasatch Front, it's refreshing to spend time in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, with open spaces, cooler temperatures and spectacular panoramas.
"It's nice because we're in our own little nook — Fraser Valley," said Darcy Morse, communications manager for Winter Park Resort. "We're engulfed in the Rocky Mountains ... not far from Denver. I think it's just a great destination."
She stressed that Winter Park's forested location makes a great home base/hub for central Colorado — it's a mountain playground. The summer season at Winter Park Resort officially starts June 16, when the chairlifts and summer rides/activities begin in earnest, and ends Sept. 3. (The nearby town is also called Winter Park.)
There are an alpine slide, scenic chairlift rides, bungees, mini-golf, a human maze, outdoor climbing wall, gyro, disc golf and more.
Second, there's a wide variety of family style and more adventurous river rafting on the Colorado River and its tributaries.
Next, there's nearby Rocky Mountain National Park (50 miles to the north); bathing at Hot Sulphur Springs; hiking in the Never Summer and the Byers Peak wilderness areas; numerous biking and mountain biking trails (Winter Park is sometimes called "Mount Bike Capital USA" with 600 miles of interconnected trails); golf, rodeos and music festivals all summer.
Farther away, after driving over Berthoud Pass (elevation 11,315 feet) to I-70, you can easily day trip to Denver, Colorado Springs or Pikes Peak; drive the nation's highest paved road (elevation 14,130 feet) to Mount Evans; motor through the country's highest highway tunnels (Eisenhower Memorial at 11,158 feet); visit the many outlet stores in Dillon; ride the Georgetown loop railroad; visit the town of Grand Lake; and day trip to Steamboat Springs.
There's also the summer ski train from Denver, running June 30-Aug. 18 this year.
Summer is short, mostly mid-June into early September. The season's first lasting snowstorm can hit the third week of September, and high elevations make snow a possibility during about any month of the summer.
Unlike a rush-rush typical Southern California vacation, there's true relaxation and solitude to be found here.
While Utah's slickrock and other biking trails around Moab bake under the summer sun, Winter Park's extensive mountain biking trails offer much cooler air. Morse said Winter Park has become Colorado's largest mountain biking area. The Winter Park Mountain Bike racing series began June 9 and runs through Aug. 25.
Early summer events this year at Winter Park include: June 30-July 1, Grand County Blues Fest; July 4, various Independence Day activities; July 14-15, Winter Park Folk Festival; July 21-22, Winter Park Jazz Festival; and there's more in August.
Snow in the Winter Park area is typically just scattered patches by early July and usually melts faster and sooner than that on lower elevation peaks in Utah.
Also, road work on Berthoud Pass, the major access from I-70 to Winter Park, is now completed after many seasons of construction.
My family stayed in Winter Park for one week last July. It was a week of record high temperatures and it rained two days of our seven.
We rafted the Colorado River in the State Bridge area on our second day. Getting to the raft starting point southwest of Kremmling via a steep dirt road high above the Colorado was a thrill in itself, one I wasn't expecting.
The river, which is smaller here, was pretty tame, but it was great.
On the third day, we drove to Colorado Springs and took the Cog Railroad to the top of Pikes Peak. We later enjoyed some outlet stores outside Denver.
The fourth day was a drive to Mount Evans, truly an unforgettable high-altitude experience, with a superior view on its summit to Pikes Peak. We finished up driving west on I-70 through both Eisenhower tunnels and visiting outlet stores at Dillon.
We toured Rocky Mountain National Park on the fifth day and saw the Colorado River at a point where it is so small you could almost leap across it. Temperatures along Trail Ridge Road, the nation's highest "through" paved highway, seemed colder than Mount Evans was.
Our sixth day was a visit to Winter Park Resort for a day full of chairlifts, alpine slides and the like (open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.). I also finally noticed the Moffat Tunnel entrance, east of the resort, where the legendary railroad path goes right through the mountain six miles to Denver.
My 14-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, said Mount Evans was the best part of our Winter Park week. My 11-year-old son, Taylor, favored Pikes Peak, and my 18-year-old son, Steven, best liked the Winter Park Resort alpine slide and related activities.
During my previous late summer 2004 trip to Winter Park, I hiked Mount Elbert, the state's highest peak, outside Leadville. Leadville is an easy day trip from Winter Park.
For more information — go online to www.winterpark-info.com or call the Winter Park/Fraser Valley chamber of Commerce at 800-903-7275.
Sources: www.skiwinterpark.com; Winter Park/Fraser Chamber of Commerce; Grand County Guest Guide; various other tourist pamphlets.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com