River News Now Breaking News Travel

(NAPSI)-Every season offers different reasons to visit Colorado. While the state is known for its skiing and cold weather sports, there's a lot to do during the summer and fall months. Visitors can explore Colorado's national parks, monuments and historic railroads, experience epic treks on scenic byways or enjoy activities such as hot air ballooning, white-water rafting, mountain biking and more.

Colorado is home to 10 magnificent national parks and monuments, from the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, home to the tallest sand dunes in North America, to the Rocky Mountain National Park, where visitors can watch wildlife, including bald eagles, black bears and bighorn sheep, explore 359 miles of trails for hiking, mountaineering, and horseback riding, or go camping.

The park also features Trail Ridge Road, the longest continuous stretch of road above tree line in the entire U.S. Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado is the largest archaeological preserve in the U.S. and contains the largest cliff dwellings in North America.

Colorado's 10 scenic railroads include the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, which travels through the Animas River Canyon, with views of the majestic Weminuche Wilderness. Pike's Peak Cog Railway takes riders 14,110 feet up, past bubbling streams and lush forests-scenery that inspired "America the Beautiful."

The state is home to more than 25 scenic byways that can take anywhere from 90 minutes to several days to explore. A popular route is the Grand Mesa Scenic and Historic Byway, known as "the playground in the sky," which runs through the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, reaching 11,000 feet in elevation.

Colorado is home to world-class white-water rapids, perfect for rafting as well as "sledging," a sport that was imported from New Zealand to Aspen and combines rafting, swimming and surfing.

Colorado is a mecca for mountain bikers as well and offers hundreds of miles of trails that run through lush valleys and fields of wildflowers.

Across the state, visitors can board colorful balloons that ascend up to 2,000 feet, where mountains, rivers and high plains are visible for more than 100 miles.

For more information, visit www.COLORADO.com or call (800) COLORADO.

Visitors to Colorado can explore national parks, ride historic railroads, experience epic treks or enjoy the landscape from a hot air balloon.