Things to Do in Buena Vista, Colorado

The Arkansas River runs right past town. Colorado Parks and Wildlife calls its Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area one of the nation’s most popular rafting and kayaking stretches. Browns Canyon National Monument, 21,586 acres between Buena Vista and Salida, is the classic run, and outfitters in town run half-day and full-day trips.

★ Good to know State park day passes are required at Arkansas Headwaters sites. Flows change through the season, so ask your outfitter which stretch suits your group.

At the end of East Main Street, the River Park sits right on the Arkansas. The whitewater park downstream has five main structures that draw kayakers and surfers, plus a boulder garden for climbing. The River Walk follows the river to South Main, and the park also has a disc golf course, pump track, skate park and dog park.

★ Good to know Town parks are open from dawn to 10 p.m., and in winter you may spot a bald eagle from the River Walk.

This historic resort sits on 70 acres in Nathrop, between Buena Vista and Salida, at 8,250 feet. You can soak in natural creekside pools along Chalk Creek, mixing cold creek water with the odorless mineral water to set your own temperature. The Chalk Cliffs rise right above the pools.

★ Good to know Day passes are sold year-round, and the water slides run in summer.

About 5 miles west of town on Cottonwood Creek, this is the quieter, more rustic of the two big springs. The pools are naturally fed artesian hot springs, and there are creekside cabins, lodge rooms and campsites. A hotel and sanitarium stood here from 1878 until a fire in 1911.

★ Good to know Soak reservations are available, but walk-ins are welcome.

County Road 306 climbs west from town past Cottonwood Hot Springs to the top of Cottonwood Pass at 12,126 feet on the Continental Divide. When it’s open, it’s the most direct route from Buena Vista to Gunnison and Crested Butte, and the views from the summit take in the Collegiate Peaks.

★ Good to know The pass is closed in the snowy months, typically late October to April or May.

Town sits at the base of four fourteeners in the Sawatch Range: Mount Princeton, Mount Yale, Mount Columbia and Mount Harvard. The Colorado Trail also passes through the area. Bighorn sheep and mountain goats live in these mountains.

★ Good to know Start any fourteener at dawn so you’re off the summit before summer afternoon thunderstorms.

The museum fills the 1882 Chaffee County Courthouse at 506 E. Main St., built when Buena Vista held the county seat. Rooms cover the old courtroom, a model railroad, gems and mining, a schoolroom and the women of the valley. The building later served as a school, and the town bought it for $1 in 1974.

★ Good to know It keeps limited weekend hours, so check Buena Vista Heritage’s hours page before you go.

St. Elmo, founded in 1880, sits at 9,961 feet about 20 miles southwest of town up Chalk Creek. Nearly 2,000 people lived here during the gold and silver boom, and the railroad quit in 1922. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the state’s best-preserved ghost towns.

★ Good to know It’s on the same road as Mount Princeton Hot Springs, so pair the two.