Wild places in Colorado

White River National Forest, near Aspen, Colorado

Two matching summits doubled in still water.

39.1° N · 107.0° WOpen plate →

San Luis Valley, Colorado

A Sahara parked at the foot of fourteeners.

37.8° N · 105.6° WOpen plate →

Gunnison River, Colorado

A canyon so narrow the day never quite arrives.

38.6° N · 107.7° WOpen plate →

Colorado Springs, Front Range, Colorado

Red towers holding a mountain in the doorway.

38.9° N · 104.9° WOpen plate →

San Juan Mountains, near Ouray, Colorado

A mountain that learned to be a horn.

38.0° N · 107.8° WOpen plate →

Handies Peak, San Juan Mountains, Colorado

A high meadow that blooms like a second sky.

37.9° N · 107.5° WOpen plate →

Million Dollar Highway, San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Mountains that rusted in place.

37.9° N · 107.7° WOpen plate →

Grand Valley, near Grand Junction, Colorado

A red canyon country the valley kept for a back wall.

39.0° N · 108.7° WOpen plate →

La Garita Wilderness, Colorado

A town the volcano built and the weather unbuilt.

37.9° N · 106.6° WOpen plate →

Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado

Two hills the plains forgot to flatten.

40.8° N · 104.0° WOpen plate →

White River Plateau, Colorado

Mountains that chose to be a table.

40.0° N · 107.3° WOpen plate →

San Luis Valley front, Colorado

A range that stands up like a single sentence.

37.6° N · 105.5° WOpen plate →

western Colorado, above the Grand Valley, Colorado

A forest that learned to live on a table.

39.0° N · 108.0° WOpen plate →

Pike National Forest, Front Range, Colorado

A wilderness that hides its own river.

39.3° N · 105.5° WOpen plate →

San Juan Mountains, north of Lake City, Colorado

A mountain that chose bulk over a horn.

38.1° N · 107.5° WOpen plate →

Larimer County, on the Wyoming line, Colorado

Red hills the prairie kept.

41.0° N · 105.2° WOpen plate →

head of the box canyon, Telluride, Colorado

A white thread the canyon kept for a last wall.

37.9° N · 107.8° WOpen plate →

San Juan Mountains, above Lizard Head Pass, Colorado

A tooth the volcano left standing.

37.8° N · 108.0° WOpen plate →

near Lizard Head Pass, Colorado

Sheep Mountain held in still water.

37.8° N · 107.9° WOpen plate →

Needle Mountains, Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado

A granite room the Needles kept.

37.6° N · 107.6° WOpen plate →

below Mount Sneffels, Dallas Peak wall, Colorado

Turquoise water the cirque kept.

38.0° N · 107.8° WOpen plate →

National Monument, near Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Two stones the mesa stood on end.

37.2° N · 107.3° WOpen plate →

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

A village the cliff still holds.

37.2° N · 108.5° WOpen plate →

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

A tower the alcove kept standing.

37.2° N · 108.5° WOpen plate →

west of Cortez, BLM, Colorado

Homes set into red stone west of Cortez.

37.4° N · 109.0° WOpen plate →

Glenwood Canyon, Colorado

A green bowl the canyon hid on a shelf.

39.6° N · 107.2° WOpen plate →

Crystal, on the Crystal River, Colorado

A wooden house the river kept on a rock.

39.1° N · 107.1° WOpen plate →

McInnis Canyons NCA, west of Grand Junction, Colorado

A red window the canyon cut and kept.

39.2° N · 108.9° WOpen plate →

Echo Park, Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado

A river that learned to go around a ship of stone.

40.5° N · 109.0° WOpen plate →

East Rifle Creek, Colorado

Three white ropes the limestone let go.

39.7° N · 107.7° WOpen plate →

near Great Sand Dunes, Colorado

A white fall the mountain hid in a crack.

37.6° N · 105.6° WOpen plate →

West Elk Mountains, Colorado

A gold hillside the clones kept together.

38.9° N · 107.1° WOpen plate →

near La Veta, southern plains, Colorado

Two volcanoes the plains could not wear down.

37.4° N · 105.0° WOpen plate →

Interpretive Park, Calhan, Colorado

Color the prairie left standing as towers.

39.0° N · 104.3° WOpen plate →

Picketwire Canyon, Las Animas County, Colorado

Prairie that opens a canyon the plains hid.

37.7° N · 104.0° WOpen plate →

Nokhu Crags, Never Summer Range, Colorado

The crags Rocky Mountain Park looks at and does not keep.

40.7° N · 106.0° WOpen plate →

Cimarron Ridge, Uncompahgre NF, Colorado

A reservoir the Cimarron walls still keep.

38.2° N · 107.5° WOpen plate →

Columbine high country, San Juan NF, Colorado

A red-banded horn the Columbine forest still looks at.

37.7° N · 107.8° WOpen plate →

Conejos River, Rio Grande high country, Colorado

A reservoir the Conejos walls still keep.

37.4° N · 106.5° WOpen plate →

Holy Cross Wilderness, White River NF, Colorado

A cross of snow the wilderness still keeps.

39.5° N · 106.5° WOpen plate →

Sewemup and Unaweep country, Uncompahgre NF, Colorado

A mesa the forest still keeps high.

38.5° N · 108.6° WOpen plate →

Ice Lake Basin, San Juan National Forest, Colorado

A high turquoise bowl above Silverton.

37.8° N · 107.8° WOpen plate →