Colorado

Parks

  • National Historic Site

    Bent's Old Fort

    La Junta, CO

    Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site features a reconstructed 1840s adobe fur trading post on the mountain branch of the Santa Fe Trail where traders, trappers, travelers, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes came together in peaceful terms for trade. Today, living historians recreate the sights, sounds, and smells of the past with guided tours, demonstrations and special events.

    Front page foggy fort

  • National Park

    Black Canyon Of The Gunnison

    Montrose, CO

    Big enough to be overwhelming, still intimate enough to feel the pulse of time, Black Canyon of the Gunnison exposes you to some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest spires in North America. With two million years to work, the Gunnison River, along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky.

    Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

  • National Historic Trail

    California

    Various States, CA,CO,ID,KS,MO,NE,NV,OR,UT,WY

    Follow in the footsteps of over 250,000 emigrants who traveled to the gold fields and rich farmlands of California during the 1840s and 1850s-the greatest mass migration in American history. More than 1,000 miles of trail ruts and traces can still be seen across 10 states on the California National Historic Trail.

    Chimney Rock was an important emigrant landmark in western Nebraska

  • National Monument

    Colorado

    Fruita, CO

    Colorado National Monument preserves one of the grand landscapes of the American West. But this treasure is much more than a monument. Towering monoliths exist within a vast plateau and canyon panorama. You can experience sheer-walled, red rock canyons along the twists and turns of Rim Rock Drive, where you may spy bighorn sheep and soaring eagles.

    View from the Canyon Rim Trail. Photo by Jeff Kochevar

  • National Recreation Area

    Curecanti

    Gunnison, CO

    Curecanti National Recreation Area is a series of three reservoirs along the once wild Gunnison River. The reservoirs that make up Curecanti today are a destination for water-based recreation high in the Rocky Mountains. Best known for salmon and trout fishing, Curecanti also offers opportunities for hiking, boating, camping, and bird watching.

    Curecanti National Recreation Area

  • National Monument

    Dinosaur

    Vernal, Utah & Dinosaur, Colorado, CO,UT

    Dinosaurs once roamed here. Their fantastic remains are still visible embedded in the rocks. Today, the mountains, desert and untamed rivers flowing in deep canyons, support an array of life. Petroglyphs hint at earlier cultures. Later, homesteaders and outlaws found refuge here. Whether your passion is science, adventure, history or scenery, Dinosaur offers much to explore.

    Camarasaurus skull still embedded in the quarry face

  • National Monument

    Florissant Fossil Beds

    Florissant, CO

    Beneath a grassy mountain valley in central Colorado lies one of the richest and most diverse fossil deposits in the world. Petrified redwood stumps up to 14 feet wide and thousands of detailed fossils of insects and plants reveal the story of a very different, prehistoric Colorado.

    Massive petrified redwood stumps

  • National Park & Preserve

    Great Sand Dunes

    Mosca, CO

    The tallest dunes in North America are the centerpiece in a diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, conifer and aspen forests, alpine lakes, and tundra. Experience this diversity through hiking, sand sledding, splashing in Medano Creek, wildlife watching, and more!

    Great Sand Dunes and Sangre de Cristo Mountains

  • National Monument

    Hovenweep

    Blanding, Utah & Cortez, Colorado, CO,UT

    Once home to over 2,500 people, Hovenweep includes six prehistoric villages built between A.D. 1200 and 1300. Explore a variety of structures, including multistory towers perched on canyon rims and balanced on boulders. The construction and attention to detail will leave you marveling at the skill and motivation of the builders.

    Architectural details from the Holly Site

  • National Park

    Mesa Verde

    Cortez and Mancos, CO

    Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from AD 600 to 1300. Today the park protects nearly 5,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States.

    View of Spruce Tree House in winter

  • National Historic Trail

    Old Spanish

    AZ,CA,CO,NV,NM,UT

    Follow the routes of mule pack trains across the Southwest on the Old Spanish National Historic Trail between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Los Angeles, California. New Mexican traders moved locally produced merchandise across what are now six states to exchange for mules and horses.

    Red Rock Country, pack mules, Gunnison River

  • National Historic Trail

    Pony Express

    Various States, CA,CO,KS,MO,NE,NV,UT,WY

    It is hard to believe that young men once rode horses to carry mail from Missouri to California in the unprecedented time of only 10 days. This relay system along the Pony Express National Historic Trail in eight states was the most direct and practical means of east-west communications before the telegraph.

    Three men on brown horses walk up a sagebrush covered ridge.

  • National Park

    Rocky Mountain

    Estes Park and Grand Lake, CO

    Rocky Mountain National Park’s 415 square miles encompass and protect spectacular mountain environments. Enjoy Trail Ridge Road – which crests at over 12,000 feet including many overlooks to experience the subalpine and alpine worlds – along with over 300 miles of hiking trails, wildflowers, wildlife, starry nights, and fun times. In a world of superlatives, Rocky is on top!

    The snow-covered ridgeline from Longs Peak to Pagoda Mountain partly obscured by wisps of cloud. (NPS Photo)

  • National Historic Site

    Sand Creek Massacre

    Kiowa County, CO

    The Sand Creek Massacre: profound, symbolic, spiritual, controversial, a site unlike any other in America. As 675 cavalrymen came around a prairie bend, the camps of Chiefs Black Kettle, White Antelope, and Left Hand lay in the valley before them. Chaotic, horrific, tumultuous, and bloody, the events of November 29, 1864 changed the course of history.

    Blankets, hides, and other offerings hang at massacre overlook

  • National Historic Trail

    Santa Fe

    CO,KS,MO,NM,OK

    You can almost hear the whoops and cries of "All's set!" as trail hands hitched their oxen to freight wagons carrying cargo between western Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Follow the Santa Fe National Historic Trail through five states and you'll find adventure and evidence of past travelers who made this remarkable trip before you!

    freight wagons on the Santa Fe Trail

  • National Monument

    Yucca House

    Cortez, CO

    Through a continuing tradition of public and private cooperation, Yucca House National Monument preserves one of the largest archeological sites in SW Colorado. The unexcavated nature of the site preserves its integrity and beauty for future generations of scientists and visitors. Experience a sense of discovery by visiting a site that has remained largely untouched for the past 800 years!

    View of standing architecture at Yucca House

By The Numbers

These numbers are just a sample of the National Park Service's work. Figures are for the fiscal year that ended 9/30/2015.