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Best Park for Fishing

Bear Creek Lake Park

Lauren Monitz

Good fishing close to home can be hard to come by in landlocked Colorado. But Bear Creek Lake Park is an exception. For $7 per vehicle, anglers both new and experienced can try their hand at catching rainbow trout, perch, smallmouth bass and saugeye during the summer or winter. And if your family and friends aren't into sitting around and waiting for the fish to bite, Bear Creek Lake Park also has a swim beach, boat rentals, a water-ski school and horseback-riding stables.

Best Park for Running

Washington Park

Washington Park is like the Studio 54 of running: Anyone who's anyone jogs there. But there's a good reason for its popularity: miles of wide and well-kept trails. The bounty of fellow runners also means it's easy to eavesdrop on personal conversations, which is always entertaining. Plus, running sucks, and it's comforting to be among other people who are suffering as much as you are.

  • Virginia Ave. and Downing St., Denver, 80209 Map

Best Park for Sledding

Stapleton Central Park

One of Denver's newest neighborhoods, Stapleton was specifically designed and laid out with modern families in mind. And at the heart of that foresight is the eighty-acre Central Park, Denver's third-largest, which includes a stage, a playground, lakes, paths, and a giant hill that turns into a winter wonderland for kids after a storm. The slope rises about thirty feet, but the grade isn't that steep in most places, so parents don't have to panic about their little ones picking up too much speed. Now if only it would snow more often.

Best Place to People-Watch — Indoors

Cherry Creek Shopping Center

An indoor retail oasis in the middle of the city, the Cherry Creek Shopping Center has banked on its elite status since opening in 1990. But if you're not shopping, buy a latte and grab a seat — there are several living rooms' worth of cushy furniture and a giant flat-screen TV in front of Abercrombie & Fitch — because you could sit for hours watching people. Who's there? Everyone from early-morning Silver Sneakers Club mall walkers and the lady with her dog in a stroller to international shoppers, teenagers, well-heeled fashionistas, and solo moms with a cell phone in one hand and a pocketbook in the other.

Best Place to People-Watch — Outdoors

Washington Park

Parks usually make for good people-watching, but Washington Park, which pops off with free entertainment year-round, is the cream of the crop. You'll find moms pushing strollers the size of ATVs and dads on rollerblades with ski poles; bar-based running clubs in the afternoons and lane-weaving cruiser-bike fanatics; overzealous triathlon types on racing bikes; tanned-and-toned sorority gals; school groups; and, of course, people who look like their dogs. It's a melting pot of eye-catching splendor.

Best Place to Snowshoe

Lost Lake, Eldora

Situated at a lower elevation than many of Colorado's other favorite snowshoeing trails, Lost Lake, in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, is also fairly simple to get to and includes a variety of trails for a variety of skill sets. The path starts either at the Hessie Trailhead or about a mile before it, depending on conditions, and gets more and more beautiful as you walk. The last part of the trail is steeper as it approaches the lake, but the view will leave you breathless before the exertion does.

Best Place to Train for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

Woodward at Copper

The International Olympic Committee has decreed that the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, next year will host the ski halfpipe and ski and snowboard slopestyle events for the first time. And the road to Sochi for every aspiring Team USA shredder will run through Copper Mountain, host of the United States Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA) U.S. Grand Prix, an Olympic qualifier. Most will also be ducking into Woodward at Copper, a world-class indoor/outdoor training facility now run by former Olympic gymnast Phoebe Mills, to work on the technical rail tricks and aerial awareness it's going to take to win medals. Woodward's programs are also kid-friendly and beginner-friendly; to start building up to some double and triple corks of your own, spring for the $59.99 "One Hit Wonder" intro session on the trampolines, foam pits and Snowflex training slopes in the Barn before progressing to day sessions and week-long camps (including summer-camp options for both kids and adults).

Best Political Statement by a Pro Athlete

Kenneth Faried supports gay rights

Kenneth Faried grew up with two loving mothers who married in their home state of New Jersey in 2007. And in January, Faried spoke out in favor of Colorado couples being able to do the same. "Nobody can tell me I can't have two mothers, because I really do," the six-foot-eight-inch basketball player says on a video in which he is sandwiched on a couch between both women. Faried says that while he supports civil unions, he'd rather see full marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. Well played, Manimal.

Best Radio Sports Show

CJ & Kreckman

Nate Kreckman hasn't always received the attention he's deserved for being one of the most entertaining sports-radio personalities in Denver. Likewise, partner Charles Johnson has occasionally been dismissed as a walking, talking advertisement for University of Colorado athletics. But their partnership is finally earning notice, and not just locally, but beyond: Their interview with ex-CU tight end Nick Kasa, in which he revealed inappropriate questions about sexuality put to him during the NFL combine, generated headlines nationwide. Still, perhaps the main reason to tune in is because of their easy camaraderie. They seem to genuinely enjoy spending time ribbing each other while they gab about sports — and fortunately, the rest of us are invited to take part.

Best Rain-or-Shine Ride

Loops

The Loops bike ride is always on. Hosted by musician, graphic designer and cycling enthusiast Broox Pulford, the weekly cruise for fixies is open to anyone interested in a fun, all-levels group ride. Loops meets up at Crema Coffee House every Tuesday night around 7 p.m. before taking off on a pre-determined route of streets and paths picked by Pulford. And rain, sleet or snow won't stop this party, as the focus is on getting to know the city in any kind of climate. Costumes are not required, and road safety rules definitely apply for any Loops participant — but breaks are encouraged for riders to get acquainted with each other and for comfort on longer rides.

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