The Rio Grande Skatepark is Aspen, Colorado's excellent public skatepark, beautifully set in Rio Grande Park along the Roaring Fork River in one of the Rockies' most famous mountain towns. Designed and built by the renowned Team Pain and completed in 2000, this roughly 17,000-square-foot park is as thoughtfully landscaped as it is fun to skate, and it's earned lasting recognition in the skatepark world, including a design award for the way it blends into its surroundings.

The park offers a great range of terrain for every level. There's a combination flow and mini bowl varying from about four to six feet deep with extensions, a fun hip, and a jump box; a three-level pool that reaches nine feet at its deepest with plenty of good hip action; and a shallower three-and-a-half-foot bowl that's perfect for beginners. Street skaters get rails, stairs, and ledges, too. Colored concrete and natural boulders — which double as retaining walls and seating — give the park a distinctive look that fits right into the mountain landscape.

The Rio Grande Skatepark is free and open to skateboarders, BMX riders, and inline skaters, and helmets are required at all times. Bring your pads as well, be courteous and take turns, carry water (and remember Aspen's high elevation as you catch your breath), and check for any posted hours. Scenic, well-designed, and welcoming to all abilities, it's a wonderful place to skate in the heart of the Rockies.