Our New Favorite Park – LaVern M. Johnson Park in Lyons, CO

One of my favorite things about Colorado has been the number of awesome parks and open space available to explore. Our adventures today brought us to LaVern M. Johnson Park in Lyons, CO. This park is wonderful destination for families with children young and old and grownups as well.

This park has it all – camping space for tent and RV camping (with some spots right along the creek), two playgrounds, lots of water areas for splashing and tubing, even an area that becomes an ice rink in the winter. The bigger playground has lots of cool climbing structures, a zipline, and a splash stream running through the middle of it that kids of all ages were enjoying on the summer day we visited.

The North St. Vrain Creek wraps all the way around the park. The creekbed was redone after the 2013 flood and is perfect for tubing and splashing or just reading a book on the bank. It was quieter mid-morning when we arrived, but things really picked up as the afternoon sun brought out families with tubes and floats.

This is the smaller of the two play areas. This one is near the camping area and the restrooms and is close to the parking lot. Make sure to keep following the sidewalk from here past the big open grassy area to check out the bigger play area with the stream.

This big open field just past the parking lot gives a good view of the scenery that surrounds there park. There isn’t a bad picnic spot to be found anywhere in this park.

The stream that runs through the playground was wonderful for cooling off on a hot day. All the kids worked together to use rocks to build a small dam to make the water a little deeper for splashing.

The rocky play structures in the bigger play area made for awesome forts and shaded space in the heat of the day. The line running through is the zipline that allows kids to swing through from one end of the play area to the other.

On the Northwest side of the park, furthest from the parking lot, there is an area that is a bit deeper than the rest of the creek (Though no deeper than about 4 feet the day we visited). Kids were jumping from the rock overhang into the water below, though my mom-nerves felt like it was a bit shallow for that. Across the creek from where the picture was taken is the River Bend Event Venue and the WeeCasa Tiny Home Resort.

The backdrop was incredible for a relaxing summer splash. The creek has some areas that are sandy, but much of the creekbed is small rocks. Watershoes or outdoor sandals make things much nicer on your feet.

Have you visited LaVern M. Johnson Park? If you have I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!