Travel Regions

Denver

Even by American standards, Denver is a young city. The gold strike that launched it occurred 150 years ago. Denver and Colorado didn't join the Union until 1876, the same year Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone and baseball's National League held its first pennant race. By the time the local population reached a million, NASA was on the brink of putting men on the moon.
 

Denver is a city full of energy. Since 1990 it has built a brand-new airport, baseball stadium, central library, downtown amusement park and light-rail system. That much change might unsettle an older town, but Denver has absorbed the additions and the city's national profile is on the rise. In 1993 Pope John Paul II came here for the World Youth Conference and in the summer of 1997 President Clinton and leaders from Europe and Asia convened in Denver for the Summit of the Eight. It was also the site of the recent 2008 Democratic National Convention.

 

Denver has long strived to acquire the trappings of a grown-up metropolis, and the results of those efforts are seen everywhere. In addition to great museums, thriving neighbourhoods, a flourishing arts scene and an ethnically diverse population, Denver boasts a happening downtown core full of restaurants, clubs, boutiques, galleries and packed sidewalks. You'll find a bit of the old west here as well. Historic buildings and preservation districts abound. Denver's commitment to maintaining open space can be seen in its outstanding park system.

 

LARGEST CITY: The Denver metropolitan area has about 2.1 million residents; slightly fewer than 500,000 live within Denver's city limits.

 

FAMOUS RESIDENTS: Mamie Eisenhower, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Judy Collins were born here. Molly Brown, who survived the sinking of the Titanic, made it her adopted home.

 

HERITAGE HIGHLIGHTS: The Rocky Mountain region has long looked to Denver as the financial and cultural hub of the area. Founded on the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek, this former mining camp quickly turned into the capital of regional commerce, and eventually the state capitol. Among its charming neighborhoods and historic districts, you'll discover a wealth of heritage-oriented attractions.

 

Front Range

Asked once to describe Colorado, Teddy Roosevelt demurred, saying, "The scenery bankrupts the English language." He was probably thinking of the Front Range region. Postcards come to life here; landscapes overpower the senses and register somewhere deeper. This is the type of beauty that can't be perceived, only felt.

 

Nowhere is that feeling stronger than in Rocky Mountain National Park, a 400-square-mile preserve of forests, meadows, tundra and ponds. You can stay above the timberline for days on end, enjoying views normally reserved for an eagle; picnic by a meandering creek; or tug at a taught line with a native greenback cutthroat at the other end. Here and elsewhere in the region — at Red Feather Lakes, deep in granite-walled Poudre Canyon or high along the Peak-to-Peak Highway — light, colour and shape achieve a kind of perfection.

 

Nature frames the mountain towns of the Front Range. Estes Park serves as the national park's eastern entrance, Grand Lake its west entrance. Idaho Springs, Georgetown and other lofty hamlets tuck themselves inconspicuously between ridges farther southwest. Only in the historic mining camps and now gaming towns of Central City and Black Hawk do man-made attractions presume to supersede the breathtaking wilderness, but at least they do it with some flair. And besides, jackpot-spouting slot machines are beautiful in their own way.

 

Boulder, home of the University of Colorado, captures the essence of the region. Framed by foothills, the city boasts 33,000 acres of parks and trails, as well as a philosophy of spiritual and environmental health. There's plenty to do and see in town, including the always-lively, pedestrian-friendly Pearl Street Mall and the summer-long Colorado Music Festival. Additional dining and entertainment can be found to the north in Fort Collins, the site of Colorado State University, and farther east in the rural town of Greeley, home of the University of Northern Colorado.

 

LARGEST CITY: Fort Collins, population 98,954

 

FAMOUS RESIDENTS: Author James Michener attended the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley; poet Allen Ginsberg lived in Boulder.

 

HERITAGE HIGHLIGHTS: Travelling throughout the Front Range region, you'll see evidence of Colorado's gold and silver rushes. It was here — where the plains meet the mountains — that many prospectors got their first sight of the Rockies. However, while mining may seem like the main heritage tourism draw of the area, there's more to this region's history than just precious minerals and dreams of fortune. Fur trapping, American Indians and a strong desire for cultural experiences "on the frontier" have left us with a multitude of historical jewels to explore. 

 

 

Northwest

From tasting wine in Colorado's wine country to sipping a hot cocoa with views of snow-capped peaks, the Northwest Region of the state is a place meant for savouring life's finer things. Here, travellers will find an abundance of activities all year round. In fact, life-long Colorado residents are still finding surprises in this land of serrated peaks, dramatic canyons and fertile valleys.

 

A majority of the region's eastern border follows the Continental Divide — the meandering ridgeline that separates North America's eastern and western watersheds. Nestling beneath the divide you'll find some of the world's most legendary resort towns, including Aspen/Snowmass, Breckenridge, Keystone and Winter Park; Vail, Beaver Creek and Steamboat Springs lie a little farther beyond. These havens for powder hounds in winter become playgrounds for sun-seekers in summer, when the valleys overflow with waterfalls and blossom with wild flowers.

 

Progressing west, mountains give way to plateaus and mesas, with a diverse group of communities thriving on tourism and agriculture. The mighty Colorado River flows through this area, forming impressive canyons along the way. Glenwood Springs is famous for its thermal hot springs and rafting industry. An hour's drive west along the Colorado River, the thriving and scenic city of Grand Junction is home to more than 120,000 people, and its profile as a producer of fine wines is increasing with each year. Nearby are two major recreation attractions: the Colorado National Monument (which is home to spectacular rock formations and amazing vistas) and Grand Mesa (where lakes are scattered throughout pristine forest). Farther to the north and straddling the Utah border, Dinosaur National Monument preserves ancient fossils and remote canyons along both the Yampa and Green Rivers.

 

For inspiration, relaxation or just a refresher course on how sweet life can be, the Northwest Region of Colorado is tailor-made for an unforgettable holiday.

 

LARGEST CITY: Grand Junction. Population: Slightly more than 120,000 in the metro area.

 

FAMOUS RESIDENTS: Aspen attracts the rich and famous from all over the world. The late singer-songwriter John Denver and the late writer Hunter S. Thompson once called it home; tennis star Martina Navratilova still does. In fact, celebrity sightings are common not only in Aspen, but Vail and Beaver Creek as well.

 

HERITAGE HIGHLIGHTS: From Fremont Indians displaying their rock-art skills on the walls of Canyon Pintado to Dustin Hoffman fine-tuning his craft at Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts Camp, the region's history is full of surprises.

 

Southwest Colorado seems to put visitors under a dreamy spell. The area's beauty amazes, transfixing the eye. Blue crags jut between grassy meadows and plunge down to roiling white rapids of fast-flowing rivers. Brush-stubbled mesas open up, creating impossibly deep stone canyons. Hot springs bubble up from sources unseen, steam flaring. Just after sunset, distant ridges turn soft and gray, silhouetted against purple-pink skies.

 

The human landscape is as dramatic as the topography. Ghost towns and abandoned mines litter the San Juan Mountains, while on the high flats of the Colorado Plateau, nameless ruins bear witness to an ancient civilization, the Ancestral Puebloans. Mesa Verde National Park, Hovenweep National Monument and the Anasazi Heritage Center make this area an archaeologist's dream.

 

The towns of the Southwest march to their own rhythm. People are always on the move — biking, hiking, running, climbing, flying, boating, even occasionally working — yet nobody is in a hurry. Telluride, Silverton and Ouray, trinity of old mining towns amidst the San Juan Mountains and now popular holiday spots, combine stunning physical beauty with high culture, making them attractive retreats for starving artists and CEOs alike. Down south, Durango offers Western congeniality with just a hint of frontier spirit. And farther north, friendly Crested Butte embodies the individualist essence of the Old West. Spend a few days in these upbeat locales and you'll be convinced that anything is possible. And truth be told, anything is possible in this dreamlike land.

 

LARGEST CITY: Durango, population 15,000

 

FAMOUS RESIDENTS: Singer Joe Cocker has a home in Crawford. Actor Dennis Weaver lived near Ridgeway; Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton lives near Durango.

 

HERITAGE HIGHLIGHTS: The history of the American Indian is especially strong in southwestern Colorado, where Ancestral Puebloans built cities in the sandstone and where Ute Indians farmed, hunted and continue to live. The rush for precious ore also touched this section of the state with the discovery of vast amounts of silver. Today, one-of-a-kind sites allow visitors to experience aspects of the region's deep, historic roots.

 

South Central

Prepare your eyes for a visual feast: South Central Colorado offers up a collection of pointed peaks, deep canyons and dazzling wild flowers. Streams of sunlight drape aspens in gold and throw sharp shadows across the mountain landscape.

 

In this unpredictable terrain, the scenery that greets visitors is kaleidoscopic. Pristine silver lakes, hillsides covered in thick stands of aspen and pines and line after line of snow-capped mountains stretching across the horizon, a still-life of folded shapes. The ranges are never ending. Cross over one, and another comes instantly into view.

 

Against these towering, formidable backdrops, hardy towns nestle in wooded valleys. Leadville, the highest-altitude city in America, seems to rest on a cloud. The Collegiate Peaks cluster around Buena Vista and the Sangre de Cristos soar over the sweeping Great Sand Dunes. Colorado Springs offers a touch of urban class beneath the eminent heights of Pikes Peak.

 

In the San Luis Valley the land lies flat, the largest alpine valley in the world. Here farmers raise crops in the rich soil and glistening streams snake through marshy meadows. At Royal Gorge the earth slips even lower, nose-diving a thousand feet to the Arkansas River. Rafters, kayakers and fishermen ply their skills here and on dozens of other pristine lakes and streams.

 

With all the altitude shifts in this region, a visitor has to be ready for anything. You never know what you'll run into — but you can be sure you'll like what you find.

 

LARGEST CITY: Colorado Springs, Colorado's second-largest metropolitan area, has a population of 465,885.

 

FAMOUS RESIDENTS: Frederick McKay, a Colorado Springs dentist, discovered the effects of fluoride in 1908. Elvira, horror movie hostess, went to high school in Colorado Springs, and horror-movie star Lon Chaney was born in Colorado Springs. Heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey grew up in Manassa (he was known as the Manassa Mauler). Photographer Laura Gilpin is a native of Colorado Springs.

 

HERITAGE HIGHLIGHTS: This is where the plains meet the Rocky Mountains and where fine arts blend with underground mines. Rich veins of ore were once found in the area's mountains, catapulting the region into rapid growth and great popularity among settlers. In seemingly stark contrast to the grit of the mining lifestyle, arose the culture of high art in some of the region's towns. The oldest townships in Colorado are also located here, and their Hispano-borne roots are as vibrant as ever.

 

 

Southeast

Although history books usually begin with the 19th-century gold rush to the central Rocky Mountains, the real cradle of Colorado is here, on the plains of the Southeast. It was here, in the 1540s, that the first gold-seekers arrived — Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his band of conquistadores. It was here, in 1806, that Colorado received its first emissaries from the United States — the expedition led by Zebulon Pike. And it was here, in 1833, that the first American settlement was raised — Bent's Old Fort.

 

The Arkansas River represents a direct line into the past. The Santa Fe Trail ran right alongside it, bringing traders. and later armies, into one of the country's last American Indian strongholds. For legendary frontiersmen such as Kit Carson and John C. Fremont, the Arkansas provided a gateway to the Rockies. Homesteaders travelled upstream in their wake, moving in tandem with the railroad crews and building towns — Lamar, La Junta and Rocky Ford — that still dot the banks of the river. The two largest cities of Southeast Colorado, Trinidad and Pueblo, made their wealth on ranching, coal mining and commerce.

 

Today, the region possesses the dignity that comes with age. There's no heritage of hurry here, no rush to riches at the foundation of the culture. Time is as plentiful as the prairie short grass. Visitors who overlook this quiet corner of the state are missing out on something special. In the vastness of its landscapes and the bottomless depth of its roots, Southeast Colorado conveys a sense of the eternal.

 

LARGEST CITY: Pueblo, population 100,471.

 

FAMOUS RESIDENTS: In late 1867, Kit Carson moved to Boggsville, his last home before his death in 1868 at Fort Lyon.

 

HERITAGE HIGHLIGHTS: Like a lifeline stretching from one end of the region to the other, the Santa Fe Trail served as the conduit of commerce for Southeast Colorado during much of the 1800s. Today, the Santa Fe Trail National Scenic and Historic Byway traces its path from the Kansas to New Mexico borders. This route provides detours along the way to preserved sites where merchants traded and Anglo, Spanish and American Indian cultures interacted.

 

Northeast

Northeastern Colorado often catches visitors by surprise with its wide-open grasslands and seas of golden wheat — a land of infinite flats. Come here to experience another Colorado rich with pioneer traditions and expansive natural beauty.

 

While throngs of gold-seekers paraded to and from Colorado's mountains, homesteaders quietly moved onto these prairies and built communities. The roots are still visible today. Old emigrant trails, antique buildings and abandoned settlements pepper the landscape. The Pony Express passed through, as did Kit Carson and Buffalo Bill. Residents love to celebrate and share their area's history. Nearly every summer weekend contains a gunfight re-enactment, draft-horse pull, mountain man rendezvous, antique carriage parade or heritage festival.

 

Of course, it wouldn't be Colorado without outdoor recreation. Sun-splashed lakes and reservoirs offer plenty of water sports, and hunters can find pheasants, antelope, deer, geese, ducks, quails and wild turkeys. But what makes Northeast Colorado special is its boundless generosity. The people are friendly, the towns small and pretty, the pace unhurried. And when you look up and see the endless sky reaching to the horizon, you realise that it doesn't take mountains to make a destination.

 

LARGEST CITY: Sterling, 11,278

 

FAMOUS RESIDENTS: Journalist and novelist Hal Borland was raised in Flagler. Big-band legend Glenn Miller graduated from high school in Fort Morgan. Mountain man Kit Carson traded for furs in the area and has a county and a town named after him.

 

HERITAGE HIGHLIGHTS: The northern plains of Colorado were once the setting of the largest overland routes to the West Coast in the United States. Everyone from soldiers to pioneers to American Indians traversed these wide-open plains, and left significant marks upon the area. This region of Colorado also makes exceptional historical claims to early and mid-nineteenth century Americana, from the operation of a historic carousel to the home of the famous big band leader Glenn Miller.

 

 

National forests and grasslands are established not only to provide recreational opportunities, but to ensure good stewardship of the land. Ranchers and ski resorts, among others, are able to use the land and its resources in a sustainable manner. But most of all, outdoor enthusiasts are also enamoured with these lands, as hiking, camping and hunting opportunities are prolific.

 

• Go hiking around the Pawnee Buttes in Pawnee National Grassland, and you might see herds of pronghorn at the base of these grand buttes.
• Visit the Wheeler Geologic Area in Rio Grande National Forest. This backcountry attraction showcases rock formations akin to the sharp coral beds of an ocean floor.
• Snowmobiling on the many trails in the San Juan National Forest lets you access areas you wouldn't see otherwise.