The Rouze Mountain Home

From June to September each Saturday 9:00 - 2:00, local vendors set up a charming market. Fresh produce, bakery items, smoked salmon, coffee, BBQ, and many many area artisan products offer their goods for sale. A musician usually plays and it makes for a perfect day. Everyone takes their dog and it one of our favorite events. We ride our bikes, but you can take the bus or drive. The best place to park might be the rodeo arena parking just across the river on 5th or along Lincoln or Oak Street. We love to buy a smoked salmon, fresh vegetables and a desert for that evening meal. The salmon is not cheap, but with cheese, wine and cracker, you won’t need to go out to eat or cook.

This is one of the nicest little botanic gardens you will see. Go towards town and turn left on Trafalgar.
http://www.yampariverbotanicpark.org/index.php

On Sunday and Thursday, the mountain has a sunset happy hour. Ride the gondola up to the Thunderhead Lodge and enjoy drinks, food and music and dancing before and after the watching the sunset over the rocky mountains.
http://www.steamboat.com/things-to-do/sunset-happy-hour-schedule.aspx

Most of the year on Friday evenings (5:00-8:00) you can enjoy the many Steamboat art galleries. Some offer wine and cheese while you talk to the artists.

Steamboat has a wide variety of cycling opportunities. We cruise from our house to the 7 mile bike path along the Yampa River and all around town and the base of the mountain. For more serious cyclist there are professional cycling events that stop in Steamboat. Mountain bike options are endless with many trails very close to town and the mountain has trails from Thunderhead down to the base. There are many places to rent, but cruisers were suggest the Ski Haus.
http://routtcountyriders.org

Up and down Yampa St, you will find places for tubing rentals. The water is cool and it is a popular activity. Depending on the water flow it can be exciting and not just a lazy float.

The Old Town Hot Springs is at the corner of 3rd and Lincoln and offers a full spectrum of recreation center activities. There is both an olympic size pool as well as a relaxing hot spring. It is also offers many day camp opportunities for kids and and a full exercise facility for adults. http://www.oldtownhotsprings.org

In Spring, Summer and Fall you can drive to the most incredible hot springs. This is worth the drive. Multiple pools with various temperatures in an all natural setting. You can see the water bubbling from the mountain and running down into these pools. You can also buy a message. Bring your suite, sandals and a towel. They say after dark it becomes clothing optional, but I haven’t tried that. http://strawberryhotsprings.com

Fly fishing is available up and down the Yampa and Elk rivers. Near town it is catch and release only. There are three prime fly fishing outfitters in town (see our website http://www.mdrouze.com/photos/page5/ ) for a listing and links. At any of these you can buy or ent gear, get directions, advise, lessons or hire a guide who will have multiple rods for you, provide the gear and will insure you of a catch. We use Steamboat Flyfisher which is owned and operated by Nordic Olympic medalist Johnny Spillane.

This is what we love. This a list of the hikes we have taken, but there are many more.
http://www.colorado-hiking-vacations.com/steamboat-springs-hiking.html
Fish Creek Falls Lower- Short hike is very gentle and only takes 30 minutes must see for this water fall. Wheelchair access.
Fish Creek Falls Upper - pretty challenging and a long hike.
Spring Creek-
Mad Creek-
Thunderhead-
Emerald Mountain Park-
Rabbit Ears-
Long Lake-
“To the Base” - We love to walk from our home to the base. Just one block down Walton Creek from the lower parking lot you will hit a paved path which winds through numerous Townhouse complexes and empties on to lower Apres Ski Way and the Steamboat Resort base. If you drive and park your walk will be half of that distance anyway.

Our son took lessons at http://www.mountainsportskayak.com and loved it some much he went back for a second day.

Being from Fort Worth, Texas and having watched many rodeos, we were reluctant to attend for years, but finally attended this past July 4th. We were pleasantly surprised and can’t wait to bring our grandchildren. It was actually a more enjoyable family event with a relaxed local atmosphere. There were actually three events where young children are invited into the arena to participate. I was impressed with the amateur PeeWee Barrel Racing event. On July 4th you have a perfect seat for the firework display that come from Howelsen Hill just next door.
http://steamboatprorodeo.com