Denver is the capital of Colorado and the twenty-first largest city in the United States, sprawling over six counties and 3,497 square miles of the High Plains and the Rocky Mountain foothills. Centered at the confluence of the South Platte River and…

Eagle County, formed in 1883, covers 1,692 square miles of mountainous terrain in northwest Colorado. It is named for the Eagle River, which begins in the mountains in the county’s southeast corner, flows westward alongside Interstate 70, and meets the…

Genesee Park is a Denver Mountain Park that stretches from Clear Creek Canyon to Genesee Mountain in the Rocky Mountain foothills about five miles southwest of Golden. In addition to the 8,424-foot summit of Genesee Mountain, attractions at the 2,413…

Kit Carson County, named for fur trapper and Army scout Kit Carson, covers 2,162 miles of the Great Plains in eastern Colorado. One of the state’s most productive agricultural counties, Kit Carson is bordered to the north by Yuma and Washington Counties,…

The Sisyphus Shelter Archaeological Site was an Archaic period (5500 BCE–150 CE) rockshelter on the northwest side of the Colorado River between Parachute and De Beque. Before the shelter was destroyed by the construction of Interstate 70, it was…

Colorado’s ski industry anchors the state’s thriving tourist economy. Built primarily on national forest lands, the state’s numerous ski resorts attract upwards of 12 million visitors annually, generating billions in revenue. Introduced to the state in…

Summit County is a mountainous county in central Colorado, approximately sixty-five miles west of Denver. Originally one of the largest of Colorado’s first seventeen counties, Summit County’s current border connects a ring of peaks around an area of 619…

Located in the southern Gore Range at an elevation of 10,662 feet, Vail Pass has been the site of periodic human occupations for at least 8,000 years. The prehistoric camp probably served as a high-altitude base when the growing population of nearby…

In early October 1970, a twin-engine aircraft carrying forty people associated with the Wichita State University football team crashed into Mt. Bethel along Colorado’s Continental Divide, killing thirty-one passengers. The crash spurred the Federal…