The Parks of Summit County

Breckenridge Parks

During your stay in Breckenridge lodging, you’ll be just a hop, skip and a jump away from wonderful Breckenridge parks.

Carter Park is one of Summit County’s largest parks, complete with baseball fields, tennis courts and sand volleyball courts. It also has an indoor community gathering center, as well as outdoor picnic tables. If your Breckenridge vacation happens to involve a family reunion or other special celebration, you can always head to Carter Park to spread out the fun.

It’s likely that you didn’t bring your dog to stay at your Breckenridge vacation rental, but if you happen to miss watching furry creatures romp around, head down to the fenced dog park at Carter Park and watch them play.

Or simply take a Frisbee or kite down to the park, and let it soar through the thin air.

Carter Park is located at the south end of High Street, adjacent to Breckenridge Elementary School. If you’re heading south on Main Street, turn left and go up a few blocks to High Street, which ends at the park.

The Blue River Plaza, near the Riverwalk Center, is also a fun area for kids and families. It’s easy to get to from your Breckenridge vacation rental by walking or taking a free shuttle to just about the middle of Main Street. It’s located along the Blue River, and in the summer kids play on the rocks near the stream, art festivals and musicians enliven the grassy place and people stroll along the path that follows the Blue River.

Kingdom Park sits near the Breckenridge Recreation Center, just north of downtown, at 880 Airport Road. The park is adjacent to the kayak park, which is always thrilling to watch, as paddlers navigate rocks and rapids. Kingdom Park has outdoor tennis courts, soccer and lighted softball fields, a basketball court and a skate park.

Parks Outside Breckenridge

From your Breckenridge vacation rental, you can drive or take the free Summit Stage to other parks in Summit County.

Dillon’s playground and park at the south end of Lake Dillon Drive overlooks the lake and is the best playground in Summit County. It combines modern jungle gyms with artistic bronze sculptures, so there’s something to inspire everyone.

The playground includes slides, poles, climbing walls and swings within the few hundred feet of mulch-covered ground. Plenty of picnic tables dot the perimeter of a paved path, which overlooks the lake, so it’s a perfect place to eat lunch or dinner. Just down the hill, the Dillon Marina rents boats and has a tiki bar that serves food and drinks. In the other direction the Dillon Amphitheatre hosts nature nights, free live bands every weekend, church services and other family-oriented events.

Frisco has a network of pocket parks, a historic park and a modern-age playground. The pocket parks are tucked within the downtown region, often near a stream.

The Frisco Historic Park is one of the most amazing historic parks, offering a dozen buildings dating from the late 1800s and early 1900s. It includes an old schoolhouse, where you can pick up a free walking tour guide. Visitors can walk into old jailhouses, bedrooms, chapels and more.

The park near the Frisco Marina provides a nontraditional jungle gym, a large swathe of grass, boat rentals and a water taxi tour that goes to the Dillon Marina.

Silverthorne’s Rainbow Park lies next to the Silverthorne Recreation Center at 430 Rainbow Drive and has a grass field for sports, a basketball court, two sand volleyball courts, two tennis courts, picnic tables, a playground and a concrete skate park.

The opportunities for enjoying parks near your Breckenridge vacation rental abound!

Snow Tubing in the Summer

Keystone Resort has just done something unprecedented: Opened a snow tubing hill in the middle of summer! And the good news is: Your Breckenridge vacation rental is just a short drive over the beautiful Swan Mountain Road from Keystone.

For three years, Matt Hoover, the night operations manager at the tubing hill, called Adventure Point, told Keystone managers they should let him build a couple lanes for snow tubing in the summer. This year, they finally listened, because like every company these days, they’re looking to increase profits through innovation.

Matt spent two weeks hauling snow from the nearby Spring Dipper run to the top of Dercum Mountain (which is Keystone Resort’s first peak). He piled the snow 25-30 feet high, then left for a quick trip to Vegas. The funny thing is, he spotted his heap of snow from the plane, as it took off west from Denver International Airport!

When he returned, he spent four days working nearly day and night to flatten the snow with a snowcat and create two lanes for summer tubing. He literally worked around the clock, only sleeping for a few hours in the yurt at the top of Adventure Point.

But it was all worth it. Now everyone can enjoy winter sports in the middle of summer when the air is warm.

Though the snow gets slushy in the day, it’s still bright white because Matt grooms it consistently, and the lanes still deliver a fast ride. In fact when Matt first made the lanes, they were so fast that his test run, which involved a 75-pound hay bale tied to a tube, flew past the long, flat run out, into the fence. Of course, he redesigned the lanes so that thrill seekers stop well before the run out ends.

Tubing costs $25 for an hour, and most people get 5 to 8 runs in during that time. The ticket includes a ride in the gondola to the top of the hill, as well as the conveyor belt ride, housed in a Plexiglas tunnel, to take guests and their tubes back to the top of the lanes.

People can ride down alone, or in groups of two, three and four as they hold onto each other’s tubes and fly down together — laughing the entire time, and sometimes even screaming.

Keystone hopes to keep the tubing hill open for the Fourth of July weekend and beyond, but everything is weather dependent. Even though the lanes sit at about 12,000 feet, the sun is intense up there.

If you go, make sure you wear closed-toe shoes — your toes will get very chilly if you wear sandals. Dress in layers and make sure you wear sunglasses and plenty of sunscreen, because the reflective sun is very powerful.

The tubing hill opened in conjunction with Keystone’s mountain [http:keystone.snow.com/Home/Resort-Activities.aspx] bike park, which offers some of the nation’s best downhill trails, complete with rock gardens, drops and bridges. Mountain biking remains open through Sept. 7.

New Hiking Trail Near Breckenridge

On a sunny day in mid June, about 60 young people donated their time to create a new 1 ½-mile hiking trail, just south of Breckenridge lodging in downtown. They volunteered through Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, in order to open the path July 26.

The passageway — named Turk’s Trail after Turk Montepare, a long-time local who helped obtain the 1,842 acres of land containing the trail — is about 1 mile east of Country Boy Mine.

The path meanders in a loop, which takes hikers over four small streams lined with moss and lush vegetation.

It took kids, age 12 and older, about an hour to clear each 100-foot section of the trail. But even with 5,000 hours of free labor, the project cost $42,000, most of which came from the Colorado State Trails Grants Program.

Knowing hiking trails are important to visitors who stay in Breckenridge vacation rentals, the town and Summit County officials offered the remaining $10,000 needed to complete the project. Then volunteers got to work, removing pine needles, leaves and bark that sometimes gathered up to 2-feet deep above the hard ground.

The singletrack should be popular with mountain bikers, as it includes boulders, drop-offs and tree stumps to maneuver over and around as it winds and turns through a tight corridor. (In case you didn’t bring your bike to your Breckenridge vacation rental, plenty of shops in town rent mountain bikes.)

Hikers will discover mining equipment and collapsed structures along the route.

But beyond the thrill of finding mining ruins that date back more than a century or zooming along an adrenaline-inducing ride, hiking trails offer everyone — locals and visitors in Breckenridge lodging — an escape from everyday stresses and crowded thinking.

There’s something about placing yourself in the middle of a forest — especially one like Turk’s Trail, which hasn’t been touched by many people because the trail is so new — that causes your mind to slow down, your breath to become more full and your senses more alive.

Walking through the woods connects people with the beauty of nature, which, let’s face it, Breckenridge vacation rentals can only mirror through their use of luxury mountain finishes like hardwood flooring and granite countertops.

And after any day of recreation in Summit County, it’s always nice to return to a comfortable Breckenridge vacation home, to sit out on the deck or relax in front of a glowing fire.

If you’re staying in Breckenridge lodging for a while and wish to get more involved with the community, there are plenty of volunteer opportunities. Specifically, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado can take you to areas you wouldn’t otherwise see, while, at the same time helping you contribute to the environment. For information on volunteering, visit www.voc.org.

Protect Skin in High Elevation

Though the blue skies, sunshine and low humidity in Breckenridge are heavenly, they can be a little rough on your skin.

Your Breckenridge vacation rental is located at approximately 40 degrees north and 9,600 feet above sea level. And with more than 300 days of sunshine per year, the sun gets very intense.

Many people use SPF 15 sunscreen to protect their skin at the beach or whenever they’re outside for long periods of time. But in high elevations of 9,000 feet or so, SPF 15 doesn’t quite cut it.

Your Breckenridge vacation rental and all the fun mountain activities that surround it are 2 miles closer to the sun than most other places in the nation. While that doesn’t sound like a big deal, given how far the sun is from the earth, it really means that the sun is four times stronger in high elevations than at sea level.

As a result, most aestheticians and experts recommend using a sunscreen with a SPF minimum rating of 30.

It’s important to apply sunscreen 30 minutes prior to sun exposure, because the skin needs time to absorb the lotion. Applying sunscreen 5 minutes before you go outside means your skin is unprotected for 25 minutes — and that’s plenty of time to turn your skin red at high elevation. The sun will cause damage to your skin over time.

Another thing a lot of people don’t know is that water-based lotions don’t work well in Breckenridge, because water quickly evaporates at high elevations. Pioneers knew this; they smeared animal fat on their faces to protect their skin from drying out. Luckily, these days, we don’t have to slather on greasy animal fat; plenty of products, like Dermatone, are oil-based.

The wind can also strip your face of protective oils. The longer you expose your skin to wind, the deeper it will strip your lipid barrier, and that leads to severe dryness. So, try to protect your face from the wind as much as possible.

After a day in the sunshine, wash your face with a mild cleanser that doesn’t contain sodium laurel/laureth sulfate because it is harsh on skin. Coconut fatty acid is safe; it doesn’t strip oils.

Sometimes people forget about protecting their hair and lips from the intense sun and dryness in Colorado (though you might experience chapped lips soon into your Breckenridge vacation, so it’s really hair that most people overlook).

For lips, use a waxy SPF 20 or higher lip balm, and whatever you do, avoid excessive licking of your lips or using water-based lipsticks or glosses, because those can lead to chapping.

Whether your hair is chemically colored or au natural, take measures, such as wearing a hat, to protect it; ultraviolet rays can fade hair color. Conditioners that contain UV protection also help preserve hair color. The sun can also burn your scalp, not to mention dry out your hair.

Finally, don’t forget about protecting your eyes. Squinting can cause fine lines, and sun exposure can affect the health of the retina. Choose sunglasses that offer good UV protection.

By protecting yourself from the intense Colorado sun, you’ll find yourself much more comfortable in your Breckenridge vacation rental.

Breckenridge Fourth of July

I can’t think of anywhere more spectacular to be during the Fourth of July than Breckenridge. I’ve spent the holiday in Chicago, in airplanes watching fireworks sparkle over the suburbs of major cities, in St. Louis on a riverboat, in Wisconsin on a lake and plenty of other places, but I think watching fireworks near your Breckenridge vacation rental beats them all!

For one thing, the temperatures are mild and dry, rather than hot and sticky. For another, Breckenridge — and all of the towns and resorts in Summit County for that matter — doesn’t just orchestrate a fireworks display set to music. It celebrates with festivities all day — and sometimes all weekend — long.

Breckenridge is the first town in Summit County out of the gate to start Fourth of July events. It begins with Breckenridge Recreation Department’s Independence Day 10K trail race at Carter Park (remember, that’s one of Breckenridge’s best parks).

Then, Blue River Plaza, located about halfway down Main Street near the Riverwalk Center, hosts kids’ concessions and amusement.

Anyone staying in Breckenridge lodging can reserve a seat at the quaint Garden Party Brunch on the historic Barney Ford House Museum lawn.

From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. was the July Art Festival. This annual show is ranked as one of the top shows in the nation. More than 100 high-quality artists showed their work — including paintings, metal works, woodcarvings, glass, ceramics, sculpture, photography and jewelry — at Main Street Station, at the south end of Breckenridge.

At 11 a.m., the Firecracker 50 Bike Race began on Main Street and climbed 12,000 vertical feet. The energetic riders actually lead the parade on Main Street, which is always a crowd pleaser. This parade is like none other -- rather than bands leading the way with music, the streets flow with everything from locals soaking in hot tubs on a trailer bed to belly dancers!

After the parade the town presents an afternoon of free music. Internationally acclaimed jazz saxophonist Nelson Rangell performed the first of four free concerts that day at the Riverwalk Center. Rangell was a child prodigy, who, by the age of 19, was playing alongside some of the greatest contemporary jazz musicians in the nation. He continues to grow and let his music evolve, always with an eye on creating music that’s easy and pleasing to the ear.

Dotsero followed Rangell. A jazz group known for its energy and spontaneous stage antics — including walking into the Maggie Pond fully dressed and blowing their horns at Breckenridge’s Genuine Jazz Festival — it’s no wonder their name means “something unique.”

Later on, 50 a cappella voices filled the Riverwalk as Jubilate! Sacred Singers took the stage. Their name means “shout for joy,” and though their mission is to glorify God through music, their sound reaches well beyond any religious denomination. They sing a diverse repertoire, including classic hymns, folk songs, patriotic tunes and contemporary music. Their performances have taken them from hospices to Carnegie Hall.

The last performance took place at 8:30 p.m., an hour before fireworks, by the National Repertory Orchestra. The buzz around town is that these young musicians comprise one of the best, and most professional, groups to come to Breckenridge so far. Conductor Carl Topilow hand-selected the 87 graduate and college students after traveling nationwide and listening to hundreds of auditions.

The festivities culminate with fireworks in Breckenridge, and they are absolutely amazing, as they illuminate the remnants of snow remaining on the peaks. KSMT (102.1 FM) plays choreographed music during the show. Guests can watch fireworks from the Blue River Plaza, outside of the Riverwalk Center, or simply stay at or near their Breckenridge vacation rental to watch the fantastic display.