beaches in colorado? (activities, pictures, water)

[StarrySkiesAbove]

Steamboat Lake State Park has a nice swim beach and it's warm enough to swim by mid summer. You are about 20 minutes from the town of Steamboat which has lots of shopping, restaurants etc. You could camp or stay in one of the basic State Park cabins or stay in Steamboat proper and just hit the state park for the day. There is also great tubing on the Yampa River through town in Steamboat and hot springs (Strawberry Park and Old Town Hot Springs). Strawberry Park even has lodging.

[Colorado Rambler]

Many people enjoy visiting Colorado's hot springs. These can range from small pools in remote areas to large pools which come with lodgings and are located at beautiful resorts. A prime example is the hot springs in Glenwood Springs which features a very nice 107 room lodge among its many other amenities. Ouray has several hot springs the nicest of which is located next to a hotel called The Wiesbaden. Those hot springs are hot! In my younger days when I grew tired of winter, I'd drive over Red Mountain Pass in the winter so I could spend a weekend soaking in Ouray's hotsprings. At the Wiesbaden, you can sit in their large outdoor pool and watch the snow falling out of the sky while remaining toasty warm yourself. My favorite hot spring is just outside Ridgeway and is called the Orvis Hot Springs - a series of 7 pools, complete with a very nice lodge to stay in. Another town which has terrific hot springs combined with high class lodging places is Pagosa Springs. Check out this list of Colorado hot springs put out by a group called Hot Springs Enthusiasts. It includes everything from small pools up in the mountains that require a hike to reach to the elegant resorts at Pagosa that you can drive right up to and get 5 star service.

One caveat about Hot Springs here - many do not require the use of swim suits, so if you are modest or have children, you may wish to call ahead ahead and find out what an individual resort's policies are. I believe that Glenwood requires suits (someone correct me if I'm wrong), but Orvis does not. However Orvis sets aside pools just for couples and has other special areas, plus single men are not allowed admission. Sorry guys, you gotta bring a GF or wife to keep an eye on you.

For beach-like places this far inland, nothing beats the stretch of the Colorado River between Grand Junction and Moab. One of the loveliest places I have ever camped was on a large sand island in the middle of the Colorado just over the border from Colorado in Utah. The water was just the right temp - it was June - and I saw pelicans (for reals!), cranes - just about every bird you could think of - and at night the fish slapped their tails so loudly in the water that they would wake me up. And I didn't bring a fishing pole. Dang! I had to find that place by doing a bit of off-roading and using my Utah Gazetteer and orienteering GPS. If you are not up for such adventures, you can just take the exit for Moab off I-70 - paved roads all the way. North of Moab, along the Colorado, the BLM has put in may campsites - each more beautiful than the last. Naturally, these campsites are highly coveted. Call ahead to the BLM office in Moab to make a reservation.

Hope you have a blast where-ever you decide to go!

[pikabike]

Warm WHEN? In CO, warm water means summertime, and not mountain lakes.

Medano Creek is not exactly a swimming river. There is sand from the dunes and they are fun to climb, but the water is frigid even in summer.

There are no saltwater beaches in CO. Geez, look at a map.

[interloper1138]

I think others have given better answers, but I went to Blue Mesa Reservoir this past July with some friends and did some swimming. There are beaches during the winter months, but they were all but gone this summer. We still had a good time.

The water was chilly but definitely warm enough to swim in. The problem was the high water level had submerged all of the shoreline so you couldn't really sit and bask without being knee deep in weeds. I'm still new to Colorado, so I don't know if that's normal in the summer out there or if it was due to the high amount of rainfall last summer brought.

[boulder2015]

Originally Posted by pikabike

There are no saltwater beaches in CO. Geez, look at a map.

op was talking about artificial saltwater pools. I did a double take on that one as well!

[pikabike]

I think there are some saltwater swimming pools in luxury condo or apartment complexes, but no saltwater beach. BTW, when a swimming pool has salt water, it is still chlorinated, just not as heavily as in conventional pools.

Another poster mentioned Navajo Reservoir, whose water does get warm in late summer...on the NM side. I don't know if the CO portion is as warm, since temp is greatly affected by water depth at a particular beach.

[McGowdog]

Chlorine is a form of salt, NaCl.

Dissolved salt forms hypoclorous acid (HCLO) and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO).

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by pikabike

I think there are some saltwater swimming pools in luxury condo or apartment complexes, but no saltwater beach. BTW, when a swimming pool has salt water, it is still chlorinated, just not as heavily as in conventional pools.

Another poster mentioned Navajo Reservoir, whose water does get warm in late summer...on the NM side. I don't know if the CO portion is as warm, since temp is greatly affected by water depth at a particular beach.

Navajo Reservoir in August is normally warm enough for a swim on either the NM or CO sides. But as I stated in my post above, I still prefer various stretches of the Colorado River where the shores on either side are covered with sand just like a beach, and the water is just the right temperature for a dip. The sand bars in the middle of the river are nice, too. The one I camped on was situated in shallow water between it and the shore where the 4wd trail ended. On the other side of my little island or sand bar, the Colorado ran a very broad distance from the opposite side of the shore. It was quite deep in the middle of the river, hence the pelicans and all the fish. It was like a trip to the ocean as far as I was concerned.

[SkyDog77]

We took the kids to Sand Dunes last year over Father's Day weekend. It's great.

[Mr. Analyst]

Originally Posted by willc86

ive heard the chatfield water is pretty warm in summer. Wow never thought of great sand dunes. Is it a creek that we swim in or and actual man made beach?

Chatfield would be my suggestion, but it's about an hours north of the Springs. It's the closest thing I've ever seen to a legit beach here, and I'm from Michigan (the Great Lake State).