Strawberry Park

As the summer sun sets over Strawberry Park, the valley lights up gold.

Green meadows creep upwards, eventually becoming steep hills that are often covered with snow from November to May. Driving up the road that leads to the Strawberry Park Hot Springs or the dirt road that leads to national forest land at Buffalo Pass, the views get better and better.

This is where Paul Hands, a Strawberry Park resident for the past 25 years, sits on his porch and plays guitar as the sun goes down, with only the trees and the creek listening. It's where he rides his horse through five acres of mountainside forest and 10 acres of meadow property. It's where he puts on cross-country skis to pick up his mail whenever there's snow on the ground.

Surprisingly, from this mountain retreat, Hands only has to travel five minutes to get to his work downtown at Steamboat GMAC real estate.

"That's the special thing about living in Strawberry Park. You can wake up and look at the sun coming across the meadow and see the deer and fox, and then be at work in five minutes," Hands said. "That's the appeal of it."

Strawberry Park has the feel of the countryside, but doesn't require the hour-long commute that country living often does. In the meadows between Strawberry Park road and Amethyst Drive, some houses take up a little more space with additions and barns and garages. Other homes stay small, and look more like cabins than like family homes. Down in the meadow, there is a feeling of openness and plenty of space.

Strawberry Park Road continues into Routt County Road 36, with Country Road 38 branching off in the meadow. Both of these roads climb up into the hills, which are splattered with houses. Stands of aspen and pine trees remind residents they live in the midst of the forest.

County Road 36 ends up in the Strawberry Park Hot Springs, a secluded set of pools filled with naturally steaming hot water, the perfect end to a day of hard skiing. County Road 38 head over Buffalo Pass and brings drivers and bikers and joggers to national forest access.

Strawberry Park doesn't have any subdivisions and it doesn't even have that many houses. The homes are on large lots of two acres to a few hundred acres. And with national forest land higher up the hillsides, there is a natural boundary to development here.

Homes typically are $1 million or more, and each home is on its own utility and electric grid.

But for able buyers who want secluded, country living close to town, Strawberry Parks is a good choice.

"When I came back to town 30 years ago, I saw this meadow and stand of trees," Hands said. "And I thought, if I could ever have a house... I'd like it to be there."