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The Wet Mountains aren’t dramatic by Colorado standards, rising above the prairie like a nondescript green wall, with only the southern tip reaching past the timberline. They might be more at home in the Appalachians than the Rockies.
But don’t be fooled — this area is as full of outdoor recreation opportunities as anywhere else in Colorado. Plus, it’s within an easy drive of the Front Range. Other highlights:

Gone are the days when someone sheepishly falls down on a hiking trail and keeps it to themselves. The other side of Instagram glory — where peak gloating is on display alongside all other fabulous outdoor escapades being shared — are the tales of how things went wrong.

A hidden gem of nostalgia and adventure lies in the vast expanse of the San Luis Valley and endless stretches of open road: a restored drive-in movie theater that offers accommodations for overnight stays.
Far from city lights, the Frontier Drive-Inn in Center is a cinematic sanctuary, a testament to a bygone era.

Colorado certainly has plenty of sun in the summer, but venture into the high country and you might even witness snow during the same period.
Because of the variability of weather as the elevation changes in Colorado, the summer wildflower season can change and is often short lived in the various elevation ranges. Blooms first start to appear in the eastern plains in May but the dry and hot summer conditions that started in early June quickly put an end to the flowers of the plains.

Pagosa Springs is an increasingly popular getaway with natural amenities. From river domes to chic tiny homes, new lodging options appeal to every kind of traveler.

In the coolness of late afternoon at 7,700 feet in the Buffalo Creek Recreation Area, a golden light filtered through tall pines, accentuating the intricate shadows of rock outcroppings looming over the Colorado Trail. Thirty miles into a trek she hopes will take her to Durango in 21 days, a young woman from Breckenridge wearing a floppy hat with “Junior Ranger” on the front came upon an unexpected reception.

Gary Hall doesn’t mind saying he’s a pretty hot guitar player.
“Music’s been in my blood since my dad woke us up to watch The Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 1964,” Hall said last week as he walked to Estes Park’s Rock Cut Brewery, where he was playing in an acoustic folk trio. “Being in a small town, I get to play a fair amount. When I was in IT, I played 110 or 120 nights per year. Now it’s more like 20 to 25 per year.”

Denver set new records in 2023 for both domestic visitors and money spent by those visitors — eclipsing $10 billion for the first time, it was announced Tuesday.
Visit Denver, the city’s tourism sales and marketing agency, said last year’s visitor total of 37.4 million was a 3% bump over 2022. And the $10.3 billion in Denver’s tourism revenue last year outpaced the $9.4 billion collected the prior year by nearly 10%.

There are so many ways to have an adventure in Colorado: climb a mountain, paddle a kayak, go skiing or snowboarding, ride a mountain bike. Doing these things with friends or as part of a club can make them even better. But for some, getting outdoors with their cat is the best.

When an unprecedented collaboration of northern Colorado public lands agencies set out last winter to gauge the depth of public concern over increasingly crowded parks and forests along the Front Range, one thing stood tall, like Longs Peak lit in gold at sunrise.
Surging visitation fueled by Front Range population growth, and its impact on sensitive public lands, is alarming to those who adore Colorado’s outdoors.