When I head to Chautauqua Park in Boulder, Colorado, I’m entering much more than a mere park. Sure, it’s the launching spot for more than half a dozen different trails and miles and miles of uninterrupted open space, but there’s so much else going on.

Chautauqua was formed in 1898 when the forward-thinking citizens of Boulder approved a bond measure to purchase, and preserve, 80 acres of wild land. It was formed as one of the locations of the Chautauqua Movement, a cultural and educational organization that brought lectures, performances, concerts, classes and exhibitions to the townspeople.  The Boulder Chautauqua is still the place to go for concerts in the original Auditorium (built in 1898), for brunch at the Dining Hall, to rent one of the historic vacation bungalows, or just to hang out on the large, green lawn for a game of Frisbee.

While I have seen some great shows in the Auditorium (including two of my favorites singer/songwriters, Aimee Mann and Shawn Colvin), I spend most of my time at Chautauqua running or hiking on the park’s many gorgeous trails. The hike up to Royal Arch (a natural rock-formed archway) is a great lung-burner which rewards you with wonderful views. And I’ve logged many a long run on the Mesa Trail (it’s a 14 rolling miles out and back). All this, and it’s a mere ten minutes from my house!

Tags: Boulder, Chautauqua, Colorado, frisbee, Lolë, parks with sparks, Sally Wadyka, trail

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 at 8:57 pm and is filed under Parks With Spark. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.