Overlanding is broadly defined as a form of self-reliant travel that allows people to experience scenic remote areas. Many times that means driving unpaved roads and camping for several days to make the most out of the adventure.

Though having an adequate vehicle to navigate backcountry roads is important, overlanding is distinct from off-roading, which focuses explicitly on technical driving over challenging terrain. Overlanding, meanwhile, “blends travel, exploration, navigation, camping, and self-sufficiency into one experience,” .

The foundation hosts gear shows across the country — including the local (Aug. 21-23) at The Ranch Events Complex in Loveland — and produces an industry report seeking to understand the overlanding community.

Both off-roading and overlanding exploded in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as people turned to the outdoors as an alternative to other types of recreation. The latter has continued to draw recreationists with 8 million people taking an overlanding trip in the U.S. in 2024, according to released last year.

With that many people on backcountry roads, you might be wondering how to find a bit of solitude. After all, if you wanted to sit in traffic, you could just take I-70.

We spoke with Tracy Barker, president of , who had insight about where to find the 4×4 roads less traveled. Most of the suggested routes below involve a low-level of difficulty — 3 out of 10, according to — so they are generally more accessible than notorious ones like Black Bear Pass or Imogene Pass, near Telluride. Exceptions include Lake Creek (rated 4), Mosquito Pass (rated 4), and Schofield Pass (rated 5), Barker said.

Just because they are relatively easier doesn’t mean there won’t be big payoffs. Barker chose these overlanding routes because they offer access to high alpine and rugged mountain vistas, camping options, and trailheads. Some can even be driven as “loops,” offering opportunities for multi-day excursions, he said. Though some are in well-known overlanding areas, Barker promised you’ll find serenity.

“It’s just a fact of life that many places become congested on summer weekends,” he said by email. “But fortunately, even for the more popular areas (Silverton, Ouray, Crested Butte, Buena Vista, Salida, etc.) there remain side roads/spur roads sufficient to ‘get away.’”

Here are five overlanding destinations to seek out. Please remember to recreate responsibly — or don’t be an “ass clown” in the words of one Western Slope sheriff — by choosing a path that suits your driving abilities, adequately preparing, and following .

Near Westcliffe

Suggested routes: Lake Creek a.k.a. Cloverdale Mine; Hermit Pass; and Medano Pass to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

Attractions include high elevation, mining relics, dense forests, mountain lakes, access to plentiful dispersed/primitive camping and the USFS Lake Creek Campground.

Near Alma

Suggested routes: Mount Bross; Buckskin Joe; and Mosquito Pass

Attractions include high elevation, mining relics, forest and tundra, creeks and lakes, access to dispersed/primitive camping and the USFS Kite Lake Campground (near Alma).

Near Red Cliff

Suggested route: McAllister Gulch-Resolution Road-Wearyman Road loop

Attractions include high elevation, opportunity for a history lesson at Camp Hale, forest and tundra, creeks, access to dispersed/primitive camping and USFS Camp Hale Campground.

Near Dotsero and Glenwood Springs

Suggested routes: Transfer Trail, Coffee Pot Road; and Blair Mtn Road

Attractions include mid-elevation (10, 000 feet), forest and multiple lakes, access to dispersed/primitive camping and multiple USFS campgrounds, such as Deep Lake and White Owl campgrounds.

Near Crested Butte

Suggested routes: Gothic Road-Paradise Divide-Slate River loop; Lead King Basin; Schofield Pass (more advanced/difficult)

Attractions include high elevation, forest, rivers, mining towns (Gothic and Crystal), access to dispersed/primitive camping and USFS’ Lost Lake, Lake Irwin, Williams Creek campgrounds.

The state is home to some seriously old drinking establishments, several of which predate Colorado’s official statehood in 1876. And if those walls could talk, they’d tell of days operating as bordellos and speakeasies, of miners and notable names who visited, and yes, even of some shootouts that took place there.

When local historian Rick Gardner thinks about the oldest bars in Colorado, he usually thinks of three: The Buffalo Rose in Golden, an institution that originally opened under a different name in 1859 and has operated in some form or fashion ever since; the Peck House in Empire, which is the oldest physical building in Colorado, built in 1862, that was home to a saloon; and Denver’s Buckhorn Exchange, which opened in 1893 and acquired the state’s first liquor license post-Prohibition.

While all respectable in their own right, there are additional haunts along and beyond the Front Range still serving cold ones today — and some are said to be just that, haunted.

Here’s a toast to 11 of the oldest bars in Colorado.

The Buffalo Rose Saloon (Golden)

Located in the heart of downtown Golden, the buildings that house events complex have roots that are as old as the city itself. The spot where the restaurant resides originally opened in 1859 as The International Bowling Saloon, so-named for Golden’s first sport, which was not done inside but out on the back lawn with three 70-foot lanes. Shortly after opening, the site saw two shootouts, in 1860 and 1868, respectively. The saloon underwent construction over subsequent decades as the area grew; the joint has been called The Buffalo Rose since 1981. Today, the business includes several additional historic buildings that comprise The Buffalo Rose Events Center, which is used for concerts and private parties. Each one has its own unique history worth celebrating. Perhaps most notable this year is the Golden Plunge indoor swimming pool, which was originally constructed around 1926 and still resides under the venue’s floor, empty of water of course.

The Gold Pan Saloon (Breckenridge)

When it debuted in 1861, the then-called Long’s Saloon was effectively a tent serving residents in the mining town of Breckenridge. The bar moved into a building in 1879, but it����ap unclear exactly when its name changed to . At times a speakeasy and a brothel, the bar used to have tunnels under the building that ran to the local courthouse. General manager Chris Butler says their purpose remains murky, but local lore is that they helped obscure high-ranking officials visiting for booze or perhaps other attractions in the rooms upstairs. Today, The Gold Pan Saloon also serves as a tasting room for Colorado’s own .

The Mint Steakhouse (Silverthorne)

Opened in 1862, has survived many years as well as many moves. The bar was originally located in a mining village known as Kokomo (in present-day Leadville) under the moniker Jack Ryan’s Saloon. It was moved to both Frisco and Dillon before landing in its current home in Silverthorne sometime before 1961, as the Denver Water Board made way for . The Mint was at one time a bordello with six rooms upstairs, according to co-owner Tom Ricci, who purchased the business in 1984. During a remodel that year, a local woman on horseback stopped by to tell the new owners of the times she spent visiting The Mint with her father and visiting with “the girls” upstairs. “My wife asked her what she meant by the girls. She winked and said, ‘Missy, you know what I mean!’” Ricci recounted. Today, The Mint is known as a popular steakhouse.

My Brother’s Bar (Denver)

Located in Denver’s Highland neighborhood, is famously regarded as the longest continually operating bar in the Mile High City. Originally called Highland House, the bar opened in 1873 and has been slinging beers in a no-frills atmosphere ever since. Its name changed many times, but it became My Brother’s Bar around 1970 after siblings Jim and Angelo Karagas purchased the business. Known as a hangout for Beat writers Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg, it����ap endured as a favorite among locals for never having a sign or TVs and for only playing classical music.

The Silver Dollar Saloon (Leadville)

Step inside Leadville’s and you join the ranks of legends like Doc Holliday, The Unsinkable Molly Brown and playwright/poet Oscar Wilde, who are said to have visited in the time since it opened in 1879. Originally called the Board of Trade, the bar had many names, going by M&O Saloon around the turn of the 20th century and then The Silver Dollar Saloon sometime in the 1930s, said CEO Eric Johns, whose family has owned it since 1943. He credits the bar’s longevity to its, shall we say, adaptability. “We operated as a speakeasy during Prohibition and again discreetly as a speakeasy during COVID,” Johns said.

Ace Hi Tavern (Golden)

When it opened in 1879, the spot now known as in Golden was home to the Opera House Restaurant, serving patrons who attended the Golden Opera House. Unlike the bars on this list, however, the restaurant never served alcohol until after Prohibition ended. Throughout its history, the restaurant had more than 20 owners, Gardner said, the latest being in 1961, when it became Ace Hi Tavern, the now well-loved downtown dive.

J-Bar (Aspen)

Aspen’s Hotel Jerome and its signature date back to 1889, when the town was a hotspot for silver mining. During Prohibition, J-Bar took the unique approach of converting into a soda fountain instead of a speakeasy. But locals could still come by and sneakily catch a buzz by ordering the “Aspen Crud,” a vanilla milkshake that came spiked with bourbon. Guests can still order the cocktail today.

The Creede Hotel & Restaurant (Creede)

Originally known as Zang’s Hotel, has been serving locals since it opened in 1892, the same year Creede was officially incorporated as a town. In addition to serving famous faces like actors John Wayne and Johnny Depp, the hotel is notoriously host to paranormal activity. Guests and staff have reportedly heard footsteps in empty hallways, seen glassware moving and doors slamming on their own, or experienced lights acting unusually. One recurring story involves a woman in period clothing being seen briefly in hallways or near staircases. Perhaps the spirits missed last call?

Monaghan’s Bar and Grill (Denver)

When founder Roy Monaghan decided to open a bar, he wanted to do so near Fort Logan, south of Denver, to be able to serve the soldiers there. And so Monaghan’s Saloon was born in 1892 in a wooden building, which was upgraded in 1901 to the brick structure the bar and grill currently calls home. Even after the Fort Logan base closed post-World War II, Monaghan’s continued serving locals. It����ap rumored patrons included President Dwight Eisenhower and Alfred (sometimes spelled Alferd) Packer, known as the “Colorado Cannibal.”

The Buckhorn Exchange (Denver)

has been proudly serving Denverites since 1893, when Henry H. “Shorty Scout” Zietz opened a saloon that catered to railroaders working across Osage Street at the Burnham Yards of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. (That����ap why the spot was originally named the Rio Grande Exchange.) Famously, the restaurant obtained the first liquor license issued in Colorado post-Prohibition for $25. It is still displayed in the bar. The menu here harkens back to the Old West with a focus on wild game.

The New Sheridan Bar (Telluride)

Telluride’s original New Sheridan Hotel was built in 1891, only to be destroyed by a fire two years later. When it was rebuilt in 1895, it included the New Sheridan Bar to serve residents of the bustling mining town. Much of the aesthetic remains intact more than 100 years later, including the original wooden bar imported from Austria. Rumor has it that the bar utilized secret underground tunnels below the building during Prohibition so people could still get their fix. Locals affectionately call this watering hole “the old bar,” given its long history. Belly up and try the city of Telluride’s signature libation, the Flatliner, when you go.

In a ghost town, people can walk in their forebears’ footsteps, studying remnants of their homes and businesses while absorbing the same views and weather that Native Americans and early settlers witnessed.

“With a ghost town, you see the empty building and imagine who lived there. What did they do? Why did they leave?” said Devin Flores, managing editor of the Colorado Encyclopedia for History Colorado. “There’s a story there. With a ghost town, there’s an ending to the story.”

Flore is not sure how many ghost towns exist in Colorado, but books — including “Colorado’s Scenic Ghost Towns” by Bill and Lorraine Bonebrake — and news reports claim there are more than 1,000. Less than half of the sites have visible remains. Many are on private property and not open for public visitation.

There is no definitive designation for a site to become a ghost town, Flores said. Some places commonly called ghost towns might have a few people who still live or work there.

“It’s just a community that really isn’t a community anymore,” he said. “It’s just based on how people feel about the place.”

Flores’ favorite Colorado ghost town was known as — named after Joseph Higginbottom, a mixed-race Canadian gold-panner and fur-trapper who founded the community — because it exemplifies the evolution of ghost towns, Colorado lore and tourism.

The Park County community was founded in the 1860s by Higginbottom, who discovered a gold vein in the mountains. Although the community was officially named Laurette, people referred to it as Buckskin Joe.

Prospective miners moved to the community, building homes and businesses, including a saloon, a dance hall and a general store. Early, well-known Coloradan even spent time in Laurette before he moved to Leadville to make his fortune and before he met Baby Doe, his mistress who became his second wife, Flores said. The population peaked at 5,000 people by 1861.

But a smallpox outbreak and a thin gold vein forced people to leave, making Laurette’s time as a thriving community short-lived.

By 1866, the town’s buildings were empty, Flores said.

When cowboy movies became popular in the 1950s, an MGM Studios director created a Hollywood movie set in Fremont County, removing Tabor’s old general store from Laurette and moving it, along with buildings from other Colorado ghost towns, to a set about 8 miles outside Cañon City, Flores said. Movies and television shows were filmed on site as late as 2010.

Local interest in the movie set and ghost town lore drove tourism. Buckskin Joe operated as a “Wild West” theme park with saloon shows, shoot-outs and horse rides between 1958 and 2010.

The Buckskin Joe theme park closed in 2010 after it was bought by billionaire William Koch, who moved it to a private ranch on the Western Slope. The buildings still stand but are hidden from public view, Flores said.

“It really captures the kind of mundane romance of the old ghost towns with the boom and bust of people moving to the mountains with a dream that doesn’t work out and then the mythology that started in the 1900s,” Flores said.

St. Elmo is a popular Colorado ghost town that features 40 original buildings and a general store that sells antiques, souvenirs, ice cream and snacks.

It was founded as a mining town, but the population dwindled until the 1950s when the last family — a brother and sister who ran a general store — were forced to move because of declining health, said Melanie Roth, a Historic St. Elmo board member and historian.

“It hasn’t been modified, so you can envision yourself potentially living and walking down the street that people walked in the 1900s,” Roth said.

While the stereotypical Colorado ghost town is associated with mining, there are ghost towns that came to be for other reasons.

For example, Swallows was a town in Pueblo County that was flooded to make way for the Pueblo dam and Lake Pueblo.

was a silver-mining town from 1886 to 1984, when the Environmental Protection Agency demanded people move because of toxic pollutants in the groundwater. It was declared an EPA Superfund site two years later. It’s now on private property.

was founded in Weld County, east of Greeley, in the early 1900s by Black homesteaders. It peaked with about 60 families but collapsed during the 1930s Dust Bowl and Great Depression. A few abandoned buildings remain.

“Again, this is just the result of changing economies and changing resources, and it����ap something that����ap going to keep happening as long as humans build communities,” Flores said. “Everything goes away with time.”

Here are some that are accessible to the public:

Ashcroft: In Pitkin County, near Aspen. Take a self-guided tour of the buildings, including a jail, a stable and a saloon, preserved by the Aspen Historical Society.

Animas Forks: In San Juan County, near Silverton. It is considered one of the most well-preserved ghost towns in the West. It also requires a high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicle to visit. The most iconic building is the two-story Duncan House with its front bay window.

Dearfield: In Weld County, east of Greeley. Three buildings from Colorado’s only all-Black homestead remain standing: a gas station, a diner and the founder’s home.

Gothic: In Gunnison County, just north of Crested Butte in the West Elk mountains. A few original buildings remain. The site is now home to the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab where scientists study the local ecosystem.

Old Carson: In Hinsdale County, near Lake City. A sister ghost town, Carson, is on private property. Visitors can see high-altitude, undisturbed buildings. A high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicle is necessary to reach these two sites. People also can hike in.

St. Elmo: In Chaffee County, 16 miles west of Nathrop. Forty old buildings still exist, and a functioning general store sells snacks and souvenirs.

Vicksburg and Winfield: In Chaffee County, north of Buena Vista. Vicksburg’s streets are lined with poplars planted by the original prospectors, and you can listen to an audio guide about life at an 1800s mining camp. Winfield has four standing log buildings, including a school. Ball Cabin is a museum. Some historical mines and an abandoned fish hatchery are within walking distance.

, located at 127 Elk Ave. A in downtown Crested Butte, is using flowers as a seasonal ingredient and providing diners an opportunity to use a new sense to enjoy the flora. While many of the restaurant����ap dishes come garnished with bright blooms, chef John Leonardi is also incorporating flowers in other flavorful ways.

Take, for example, the Wildflower Raviolo that features five different flowers — wild roses, pansies, nasturtium, calendula, and dianthus, plus purple basil & tarragon — laminated into the homemade dough. The pasta is stuffed with squash blossom, an herb called lovage and ricotta cheese, before being cooked and served in a chicken consommé with fava beans.

While these edible flowers are primarily cultivated garden flowers, the goal of the menu was to take inspiration from the wildflowers in Colorado’s mountains. Many wildflowers aren’t actually edible — and can even be poisonous.

Flowers also star in condiments on the menu, such as the vinaigrette that tops the Bluefin Toro Nicoise Salad, which is infused with edible violas, pansies and borage. Bread service features whipped butter with purple Persian leek blossoms, while the porcini risotto is finished with a butter infused with elderflower.

���dzܱ�ç�Dz�, which prides itself on local sourcing, got most of the flowers for the specialty menu from Gunnison-based and , and in Hotchkiss. One notable exception is the wild roses, which are from six-year-old bushes growing behind the restaurant, said spokesperson Stephanie Paz.

If you haven’t yet heard of or visited ���dzܱ�ç�Dz�, you could be forgiven. The restaurant, located in a former mining cabin, has been open since 1975, but it only houses nine tables that fit just 28 guests at one time. In 2019, Chef Leonardi purchased the business, which serves French-American cuisine in a fine dining atmosphere. We’ve argued that it could be a Michelin contender as the guide moves to incorporate restaurants statewide.

“The way I was taught is to use the ingredient and show it off the best you can,” Leonardi previously told The Denver Post. We have to assume that applies to wildflowers, too.

The specialty flower menu lasts all summer long until the restaurant closes for the off-season, usually at the end of September or early October. In addition to ordering à la carte, guests can indulge in three-course or six-course tasting menus every day of the week. For more information, visit .

“The handsomest hotel on the Western Slope opened its broad portals to the merriest crowd of merrymakers ever assembled in the silver metropolis,” the newspaper crowed on Nov. 29, 1889.

The town that would become known for skiing, culture, glitz and glamor decades later had struck it rich. Wheeler, a civil war veteran who visited Aspen in 1883, also built an opulent three-story opera house. On “The King’s Fool,” and a group of female fencers put on a swordplay exhibition.

Rich silver veins had been discovered in 1879, igniting a 14-year mining boom. For a brief time, Aspen was one of the most productive silver mining locales in the U.S., producing one-sixth of the nation’s silver, according to a . It grew to become Colorado’s third-largest city with 13,000 residents, two railroads, 14 newspapers, three schools, six firehouses and eight churches.

The silver boom was short-lived, though. Silver prices collapsed in 1893, contributing to a severe depression. Soon the silver mines mostly fell silent, although the largest silver nugget ever mined in the U.S. was unearthed at the Smuggler Mine in 1894. It weighed more than a ton and was nearly 96% pure.

Aspen’s population declined by half after the silver crash, and the economy of the Roaring Fork valley turned to farming and ranching.

In 1936, Andre Roch was hired to survey the area for a proposed ski resort. A noted Swiss skier and avalanche expert, Roch recommended Mount Hayden, 12 miles south of Aspen near Ashcroft. That never came to fruition due to World War II, but Roch staked out a trail on Aspen Mountain while he was there.

Members of the Roaring Fork Winter Sports Club, which Roch founded, cut the trail and named it after him. In 1937 they built an uphill cable tow for skiers, and in 1938 they added a “boat tow” consisting of two wooden sleds resembling flat-bottom wooden boats that were capable of hauling passengers uphill, sliding on a snowtrack. Aspen hosted the national ski championships in 1941.

Elizabeth Paepcke, who would play a pivotal role in Aspen’s renaissance, first visited in 1939. A visionary, she saw huge potential in the valley’s surpassing beauty.

“A friend of mine had told me that Aspen was this beautiful little Victorian village that had gone to sleep, and that I would adore it,” said Paepcke, who died in 1994. “I certainly did.”

She returned to Aspen in 1945 with her husband, Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke. They were largely responsible for the town’s rebirth, along with 10th Mountain Division veteran Friedl Pfeifer. While the Paepckes envisioned Aspen as a cultural and recreational retreat, Pfeifer was keen on its potential as a ski resort.

A native of Austria, Pfeiffer had visited Aspen while stationed with the legendary World War II ski troops at Camp Hale near Leadville. On the spot, he made up his mind to return when the war ended.

“I knew it and I let it be known,” said Pfeifer, who died in 1995. “I went before the city council and told them I wanted to come back after the war and turn it into a ski resort. God put it there, and he had skiers in mind.”

Pfeiffer and Walter Paepcke met in 1945 and joined forces, founding the Aspen Skiing Corporation in 1946, and they took over ski operations on Aspen Mountain. In December 1946, they opened the first chairlift — then the world’s longest — a single-seater equipped with canvas blankets.

Aspen wasn’t the only former Colorado mining town that would become a major ski resort. Telluride saw a gold and silver boom from 1875 until the silver crash of 1893. There was enough gold to keep some mines open until 1978, though, according to a website. The Telluride Ski Resort opened Dec. 22, 1972, with five lifts and a day lodge.

Breckenridge’s mining history predates Aspen and Telluride. The Pikes Peak Gold Rush began luring miners to Denver, Central City and Breckenridge in 1859, and the town of Breckenridge was founded that year. Most of the early mining there consisted of placer mining — extracting minerals from sand and gravel in river beds — and mining declined during the Civil War.

After silver was discovered in the 1870s, the miners returned and hard rock mining boomed. In 1880, the population numbered 1,657, according to . There were two dance halls, 10 hotels and 18 saloons. A railroad over Boreas Pass connected Breckenridge to Denver in 1882. In 1887, a gold nugget weighing more than 13 pounds — the largest found in Colorado at that time — was discovered there.

In 1898, into river beds. Some of the rock piles created by the dredge boats are still visible today. Dredging operations continued until 1942 when Breckenridge’s gold mining era ended.

The Breckenridge ski area opened on Dec. 16, 1961. Known initially as Peak 8, it had a double chairlift with a midway unloading station and a short T-bar for beginners.

The town’s ski heritage actually dates back to the 19th-century mining days, though. John Lewis Dyer, an itinerant Methodist preacher, arrived with the earliest prospectors in 1862. He supported his traveling ministry by hauling mail over Hoosier Pass to Alma and from there to Leadville over Mosquito Pass on 10-foot wooden skis known at the time as Norwegian snowshoes.

“Dyer commonly started at 2 in the morning when the snow was firm,” according a website. “To the song of the howling wolves, he moved mail and ministry from Breckenridge over Hoosier Pass to Buckskin Joe near today’s Alma. After a brief rest, Dyer journeyed atop Mosquito Pass, towering over 13,000 feet in elevation, on to Oro City (now Leadville). He might make the return trip the following day.”

Many regard Dyer as Colorado’s first backcountry skier. He also built a church in Breckenridge where services are still held, although not at its original location. A stained glass rendering of Dyer was installed at the state capitol in 1900, along with 15 other “Colorado pioneers,” and he was included as one of the inaugural inductees into the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame in 1977.

Miners who spent their lives underground often explained the noises the only way they could: as the work of the Tommyknockers. These figures were described as small, 2-foot-tall green gnomes, sometimes with white whiskers or beards, said to live within the tunnels themselves.

In some accounts, they were believed to be the , returning underground to warn crews of cave-ins or other disasters. At other times, they were thought to be guides, leading miners toward gold. In less generous tales, they were mischievous, stealing tools and extinguishing lanterns.

The Tommyknockers are part of Colorado’s myth and lore that lives on and has expanded, from mountain legends and Bigfoot sightings to stories surrounding Denver International Airport. As Colorado celebrates its 150th anniversary, those stories continue to shape how its history, culture and geography are understood.

“A lot of the folklore that we have in Colorado are kind of regional variants of stories that we see take place in other places across the country and across the globe, but within Colorado, they’ll sort of have a way of finding this sort of regional contextual importance for us,” said Jack Daly, a folklorist and lecturer in the University of Colorado Boulder Program for Writing and Rhetoric.

The legends and myths travelers carried into Colorado

Some of the state’s most enduring legends emerged from mining and mountain communities, shaped in part by the , which drew unprecedented numbers of people into the region in the late 1850s.

Among the stories migrants carried with them were tales of the Tommyknockers, a myth rooted in Irish, Cornish and Welsh mining traditions in the British Isles.

Sam Bock, History Colorado’s Director of Interpretation and Publications, said the myth took root in Colorado as miners carried it west, where it became embedded in the state’s mining culture, which is still a significant part of its economic and historical identity.

The myth was said to originate as a way for miners to of the strange echoes and unexplained sounds deep within the mines, as well as to cope with the constant dangers of their work.

Bock said many of these myths and legends may begin with a kernel of truth, later shaped and expanded by cultural beliefs, traditions and specific historical moments.

“There’s no such thing as a legend that comes out of nowhere. There’s no such thing as a myth that doesn’t have some connection to a point of truth, even if that point was really long ago,” he said.

“Colorado is one of those places where people have been coming from all over the world for hundreds of years. Every single culture has its own myths and they don’t stay in one place, they go with the people, because the people find value in those myths.”

As a folklorist, Daly said myths are “sacred narratives” explaining how the world came to be. Legends, on the other hand, are stories rooted in specific places and periods in history, often with some kind of believable or supernatural element to them.

As those stories traveled, they often became tied to the landscapes people move through.

A Bigfoot- and UFO-lovers’ travel guide to Colorado

Take elephants up on Boreas Pass as an example. When the came to Breckenridge, it was said the circus train was too heavy to make it up to the pass. According to the legend, elephants were it to the summit. While no elephants roam the mountains today, hikers can still find in the area.

But not every Colorado legend arrived from somewhere else. Some were invented in the mountains themselves, including one of the state’s strangest creatures: the Slide-Rock Bolter.

Described in William T. Cox’s 1910 novel "," the whale-like creature inhabits only the steepest mountain slopes. With tiny eyes, a wide sculpin-like mouth, and a tail with enormous grab-hooks, it clings to mountain ridges, waiting for unsuspecting tourists below.

Once it spotted its prey, the Bolter would release its grip and slide downhill, swallowing the victim whole before dragging itself back up the mountainside. The bolter was said to devastate forests as well, uprooting trees in its path.

Bock said History Colorado’s research center traced the story back to the U.S. Forest Service woodcutting camps and miners in the Colorado mountains.

“If you look at the time in which this myth was kind of beginning to reach audiences, it's right when Colorado is transitioning from an extractive economy, primarily based in mining and agriculture and in wood cutting, to an economy based in outdoor recreation and travel,” he said.

“The first one to record the story that we've been able to find was a Forest Service historian, storyteller who went around the Forest Service camps in Colorado, and recorded these stories, and it seems like he was recording them as kind of a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ story.”

Bock said the foresters and loggers used to swap stories about setting decoy traps for the Bolter, using dummy tourists dressed in plaid and stuffed with explosives.

“So these guys kind of saw an end of an economic era in Colorado. And that's how that legend came about, and it was propagated kind of as a joke,” he said.

Colorado’s vast wilderness has also helped make the state a longtime hotspot for Bigfoot lore. While the modern Bigfoot craze gained popularity in California during the mid-20th century from a construction worker creating a practical joke, , a dedicated souvenir shop and museum in Bailey, and even annual festivals in Estes Park have helped keep the legend alive locally.

Bock said stories of large, hairy ape-like creatures, like Gigantopithecus, have appeared across cultures for centuries, often sharing similar traits despite originating in different regions.

“I personally want for there to be a Bigfoot. I would be thrilled if tomorrow someone was like, ‘Look, here is irrefutable proof. I have him,’” Bock said. “But until we see that, I have to put it in the realm of myth and legend.”

For Bock, the persistence of Bigfoot stories also reflects something deeper about modern culture.

“I think one of the reasons that legend is so enduring across so many different places in this country is that it connects to a lot of anxieties that Euro Americans have had around what our industrial culture has done to the natural world and to the native people that still call this place home,” he said.

Detailed in his book "Eerie Colorado: Mountain Folklore, Monsters and Tales of the Supernatural," Daly said he has taken part in a four-day Bigfoot expedition in southern Colorado with the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, as well as a night hike with the Sasquatch Outpost in Bailey.

He said he approaches his research without positioning himself as either a skeptic or a believer, arguing that these stories shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.

“It's a difficult thing when you're dealing with the supernatural as an academic researcher, but it's important in this day and age to think critically about the world,” he said.

“I try to put my own cultural assumptions and biases and beliefs to the side and say, ‘I don't know everything about how the world operates,’” he said.

The making of modern stories

In contrast to these mountain legends, Denver sought to shape a different image in the 1870s, promoting itself as a city with “300 days of sunshine” to enhance Colorado’s reputation and attract railroad travelers.

While that claim was more promotional, the city remains one of the sunniest in the United States, averaging about 245 sunny days per year compared to the of roughly 205.

Today, when people talk about myths and legends in Colorado, their first thought always goes to Denver International Airport. Over the years, it has become a focal point for conspiracy theories and urban legends, ranging from secret societies and underground bunkers to aliens, lizard people, and eerie interpretations of its public artwork.

One of the most recognizable symbols tied to these stories is a large horse sculpture near Peña Boulevard. Officially titled “Mustang,” it was created by artist Luis Jiménez and commissioned in the mid-1990s. The sculpture stands 32 feet tall and is known for its vivid blue color and glowing red eyes, which led many to nickname it “Blucifer.”

The story of the sculpture’s creation is also part of why it draws attention.

During the final stages of its construction, Jiménez was tragically killed in a studio accident in 2006 when a piece of the sculpture fell and severed an artery in his leg.

His family later completed the work, and it was installed at the airport in 2008. Since then, Blucifer has been a target for mythmakers, with many insisting that he’s cursed, despite its artistic intent.

Beyond the sculpture, online narratives have expanded into claims of extensive underground tunnel systems and “lizard people” supposedly operating beneath the airport.

In reality, the airport has acknowledged that there are , including the trains that carry passengers to and from different concourses and infrastructure from a previously used automated baggage system. Officials also said the tunnels only extend out to the perimeter of the airport, less than two miles.

In addition, officials have said that these areas are limited to operational needs and do not extend into the elaborate networks often described in several conspiracy theories.

However, part of what makes these stories persist is the airport����ap scale and design. Large, complex infrastructure projects often create informational gaps.

Daly said these are precisely the environments where modern legends or theories tend to emerge, as people don't necessarily know what occurs behind the scenes.

As a result, Daly said, when the details are examined closely, most of the legends surrounding the airport trace back to interpretation and internet amplification.

In recent years, the airport itself has even acknowledged its curious reputation, hosting exhibits and campaigns that explore and gently push back on these theories and legends. Rather than confirming certain narratives, these efforts tend to highlight how stories grow around large, complex public spaces.

As Daly puts it, the internet has become “the new Dark Forest” for folklore, an ecosystem where stories spread faster than ever, but where algorithms, hoaxes and increasingly realistic AI fakes make critical media literacy essential.

However, that same ecosystem doesn’t just preserve old myths, it reshapes them. Legends evolve, rename themselves, and adapt to contemporary culture in ways that make them feel newly discovered.

Lately, Daly has been researching reports of a “Dogman,” often described as a wolf-like creature, which he argues is essentially a modern rebranding of the traditional werewolf myth.

In this sense, even newer legends remain connected to older storytelling patterns. Daly said the stories that we have are likely going to continue to shift in ways that mirror and reflect culture, as well as changes in industry and economics.

Normally, during times of trouble, gold and U.S. Treasuries have acted as safe havens for investors. But that wasn’t the case on Tuesday. Both gold and U.S. Treasury prices fell.

“Gold stocks and gold prices can make very counterintuitive moves. I think that it was just one of those counterintuitive moves,” said Kevin Smith, founder and CEO of Denver-based Crescat Capital, which manages a precious metals fund.

The spot price of gold fell by 4.5% a troy ounce on a day when it normally would have been expected go up. The drop appears to be an effort by investors to get “liquid” or hold cash. Treasuries were down on concerns that higher oil prices could accelerate inflation.

Denver remains a global hub for the gold mining industry. Precious metal companies were the worst-performing Colorado stocks on Tuesday, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the $18.3 billion that the state’s 55 largest public companies shed in value, according to a Denver Post analysis.

Shares of Denver-based SSR Mining, the third-largest gold producer in the U.S., fell 9.42%. Englewood-based Vista Gold Corp., which operates a gold mine in Australia, suffered a 9.25% drop in its share price.

But the biggest hit in dollars, $11 billion erased, came from the 7.9% drop in the share price of Newmont Corp., the world’s largest gold mining company.

Some of the downward pressure was company-specific. Newmont, which became Colorado’s largest public company following the departure of Palantir Technologies from Denver last month, was downgraded by TD Securities, which now rates the company a “hold.” Tuesday was also the company’s ex-dividend date, or the cutoff that determines what investors can collect a declared dividend. Shares usually fall by around the per-share amount of the dividend that is being paid.

The drop in gold prices, however, was the biggest driver, as it was for other gold-related companies.

Denver-based Royal Gold, a royalty and streaming company, saw its shares fall 7.66%. Royal Gold provides capital to mining companies. It is repaid in royalties on gold production or through rights to purchase a mine’s future metal production at a steep discount.

Solitario Resources, a Wheat Ridge company that has been pivoting away from zinc mining to focus more on gold exploration, saw its shares drop 3.4% in value.

Sandwiched in between those four mining companies was Gloo Holdings, a Boulder-based technology platform that provided investors with a fourth-quarter they apparently didn’t like on Monday afternoon. Its shares were down 8.1%.

Smith, who was attending a gold mining conference in Toronto, said the mood among industry players was upbeat. He urged investors not to give up on gold because of one day’s action.

“I believe we are still in the early phases of a major bull market for the mining industry. Last year was the first big year we had after a 15-year bear market,” he said.

Gold remains in short supply, and it can take 15 years for a new mine to get all the approvals needed to start production. He said pullbacks are normal and that he expects investors without exposure to gold to buy into any dips.

Now, leaders behind the last remaining block of the city’s historic Japantown are seeking funding they say will determine whether Sakura Square is preserved and revitalized or slowly lost to history.

In October 2025, Sakura Square leaders applied for funding from the , which oversees a $570 million voter-approved fund, to aid the block’s redevelopment goals.

The DDA application, obtained through a public records request, highlighted a proposal designed to strengthen the block’s role as a cultural anchor while reversing decades of physical deterioration.

So far, the city has designed to reshape downtown Denver. Now, with roughly $404 million still available, Sakura Square is among more than 80 applicants hoping to secure a share of the next round of funding.

In December, Laura Swartz, the city’s Communications Director for the Department of Finance, told The Post that about 25 applications were under review and approximately 48 applications were denied for DDA funding

Approved projects range from $30 million to activate Civic Center Park, to $17 million for an office-to-residential conversion of the historic Symes Building and $640,000 to expand and relocate Milk Tea People.

For Sakura Square, these investments represent an opportunity to reinforce its presence and significance in the city.

“It’s about the legacy, but it’s also about the present and the future,” said Nozomu Tim Higashide, Sakura Square’s CEO, who leads operations and strategic planning for the square.

“We already exist. We’re not trying to build something new. We’re trying to enhance and preserve and then evolve what we already have.”

Sakura Square is home to the Tri-State/Denver Buddhist Temple, Pacific Mercantile, a structured parking garage, a variety of shops and services and Tamai Tower, a 199-unit apartment building originally developed as deed-restricted affordable housing.

The block hosts major cultural events such as the Denver Cherry Blossom Festival and Spirit of Japan, drawing tens of thousands of visitors annually. Yet behind the celebrations, the decades-old structures are showing signs of aging.

Outside, scaffolding holds up a crumbling concrete barrier near the plaza, while inside, the temple struggles with a broken boiler and minimal insulation. These signs of wear are more than maintenance issues; they are a warning that a cherished piece of the city’s history could be lost.

“We have 50-plus-year-old buildings. The temple is from 1947, so the aging infrastructure and the cost of upkeep is really becoming unsustainable for us in the community,” Higashide said.

With DDA funding, Higashide said Sakura Square could continue as a vital “third place” in downtown, honoring Denver’s Japantown legacy while welcoming new generations. Sakura Square can mirror the success of other cultural destinations, like Seattle’s Chinatown, where 76% of spending comes from non-residents, driving regional visitation and sustaining Downtown vibrancy.

Without investment, he said, the city risks letting an irreplaceable cultural district slip into permanent decline, a .

Outlined in their DDA application, Sakura Square leaders are seeking $30 million in funding to support a redevelopment effort that will preserve the site’s historic and cultural significance through a new temple and cultural community center, expanded cultural retail, and an outdoor public plaza at 19th and Lawrence streets.

The proposed project calls for rebuilding the over 77-year-old Tri-State/Denver Buddhist Temple and Pacific Mercantile. Altogether, the plan includes about 46,500 square feet of improvements, consisting of two multi-story buildings that will house a Buddhist temple, upper-level flexible educational and community spaces and ground-floor cultural retail, including a new home for Pacific Mercantile that flanks an outdoor public plaza.

The buildings and plaza will also feature designs, art and signage to tell the story of the Japanese American community in Denver while also providing a place for people to gather, learn, celebrate, shop, and dine.

DDA funding specifically will be used to build the temple, the plaza and the cultural retail elements of the project. DDA funding will also subsidize tenant improvements and rents in the TCC to support legacy businesses and small, culturally appropriate retailers to create a unique retail environment downtown.

Across the country, cultural districts have proven consistent foot traffic, supporting resiliency through market ups and downs. In 2023, approximately 8.5 million people visited L.A’s Little Tokyo, and over half of them were repeat visitors. On average, individuals come to Little Tokyo 2.33 times per year, and about one-fourth, or 2.1 million people, travel over 50 miles to get there, according to Sakura Square’s DDA application.

“We want to be here, but we could be displaced, and that’s not what the community wants. That’s not what we want,” Higashide said.

A safe haven for those displaced

Japanese people have lived in Colorado since the late 1800s, according to 76-year-old Charles Ozaki, a Denver native who serves as board chair of Sakura Square LLC. He said many worked as railroad laborers, coal miners and on major projects such as the Moffat Tunnel, while others worked on farms or established their own. By the early 20th century, Japanese immigrants opened restaurants, beauty salons, grocery stores, hotels, and other businesses in lower downtown Denver.

In 1916, the Tri-State/Denver Buddhist Temple, also known as the at the time, was founded at 1950 Lawrence St. The church moved several times within lower downtown, including a period in Mattie Silks’ former “House of Mirrors” bordello, before building its current temple at 1947 Lawrence St. in 1947.

However, , anti-Japanese hysteria spread across the United States. Japanese Americans were targeted and stripped of their civil rights.

On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt allowing the military to remove anyone considered a threat to national security from the West Coast and place them in inland relocation centers. By the end of World War II, more than 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans were incarcerated.

People living in Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona were and property and were sent to 10 internment camps in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.

Despite widespread hysteria, Colorado Gov. Ralph L. Carr welcomed Japanese and Japanese Americans to the state and was the only elected official to publicly denounce the imprisonment, even though he faced backlash. However, the U.S. government still built the Granada Relocation Center, also known as Camp Amache, in Colorado.

Over 10,000 people, most American citizens, were incarcerated at Amache until 1945.

The site is now known as Amache National Historic Site and was officially established as a National Park Service unit on Feb. 15, 2024.

After the war, Ozaki said many Japanese who had been incarcerated in the camps moved to Colorado, because of the welcoming attitude of Gov. Carr, including his own family.

He said his family lived in the Curtis Park/Five Points neighborhood alongside Black and Mexican families, as redlined areas were the only places they were allowed to live.

He said Japanese businesses once lined several blocks of Larimer, stretching into these neighborhoods, with about 30 Japanese-owned grocery stores in the area. At one point, Ozaki’s family ran a grocery store named T.Y. Market at 27th and Larimer.

“My family they weren’t from this community. They came from out of this community into this community, and it was a safe haven for them, and it’s been that way ever since for all my brothers and sisters and my wife and my kids,” he said.

Ozaki said Japantown was concentrated around the Buddhist temple. It was where Joni Sakaguchi, board president of the Sakura Foundation, and Randy Matsushima, board president of the Tri-State/Denver Buddhist Temple, spent their Sundays with their families. As they grew up, they walked the block, shopped at local stores, visited friends, and attended temple services.

“This is where we’d go for special occasions, to attend services at the temple, if you could find a seat in there,” Matsushima said as he laughed, remembering just how crowded the temple could get.

However, in the 1960s, the community faced new pressures. The Denver Urban Renewal Authority’s voter-approved aimed to redevelop 30 blocks of lower downtown Denver between 20th Street, Speer Boulevard, Larimer and Curtis Streets.

The project was planned to , to attract new businesses and promote economic revitalization. The Buddhist temple was directly in the path of the project, threatening its displacement.

Rather than leave, community leaders rallied to defend the site, leading to the creation of Sakura Square and Tamai Tower on the block bounded by Larimer, 20th, Lawrence and 19th Streets. When Sakura Square opened in 1973, it became the heart of Denver’s Japanese community.

A childhood measured in temple steps and grocery aisles

Sakura Square has weathered decades of change, yet Pacific Mercantile, a woman-owned Japanese grocery, has long formed the heart of Sakura Square alongside the temple. For over 80 years, it has supplied Denver with Japanese and Asian specialty foods, fresh fish, produce, and carefully chosen gifts.

A giant mural of a woman holding sugar beets stretches across the side of the building, a vivid tribute to the Japanese farming community’s history woven into the square.

Inside, customers and visitors are often welcomed by owner Jolie Noguchi. With her short bob haircut, square-framed glasses, and warm, wholesome demeanor, she greets regulars and longtime friends with hugs, embodying the family-run spirit of the grocer itself.

“We have so many great memories of growing up, my mom would take me to work, you know, and I would be in my bassinet in her office,” Noguchi said.

Pacific Mercantile was , George Inai. The store was originally located on Larimer and 20th streets before relocating in 1973 to its current home at 1925 Lawrence St.

Noguchi said her grandfather initially wanted to call the grocery Nippon Market, but Gov. Carr advised against the name, believing it might discourage American customers from shopping there.

She said remembers the early days of the store with fondness, where she would run through the aisles with her brothers, back when the floors were wooden, and the air carried the scent of sushi and oden (type of fish cake dish) her grandmother prepared in the back.

She said some of her favorite memories are from the stockroom, where burlap sacks of rice became a child’s Mount Everest, stacked high and ready to be climbed, a playground hidden behind shelves of groceries.

Now entering its fourth generation of ownership, the legacy is set to continue. Noguchi said her daughter, Alyssa, will carry the grocer forward, ensuring it remains not just a store, but a living piece of Sakura Square’s history and true labor of love.

“I think of my grandfather literally every day,” Noguchi said.

“When she came to me with that (decision), I literally cried. She is our next generation. She’s gonna carry on her great grandfather’s legacy.”

Higashide said Pacific Mercantile, the temple and the statues in front of the square all show why Sakura Square must be preserved. It represents the tight-knit community, the enduring spirit of Japanese culture and the generations who return to honor and share the block’s history.

He said they are in discussions with the DDA team and hope conversations progress, but they have not yet heard whether their application will be approved.

The next DDA board meeting will be on Tuesday, Jan. 27. At this time, applications for projects in the business incentives category and arts, culture and activation category are temporarily on hold, according to the DDA website. They will not be accepting applications until the next phase of the program launches, which is expected in March.

But Higashide and the community members committed to protecting Sakura Square remain determined to preserve its legacy for the future.

“This is our home, and we don’t want to be anywhere else. This is where we want to be,” he said.

But learning to maneuver the shiny red drill they use to tap into underground heat feels different. It����ap a critical part of the Colorado family’s new business, High Altitude Geothermal, which installs that use the Earth’s constant temperature to heat and cool buildings. At stake is not just their livelihood but a century-long family legacy of producing energy in Moffat County.

Like many families in Craig, the Coopers have worked in coal for generations — and in oil before that. That����ap ending for Matt Cooper and his son Matthew as one of three coal mines in the area closes in a statewide shift to cleaner energy.

“People have to start looking beyond coal,” said Matt Cooper. “And that can be a multitude of things. Our economy has been so focused on coal and coal-fired power plants. And we need the diversity.”

Many countries and about half of U.S. states are moving away from coal, citing environmental impacts and high costs. Burning coal emits carbon dioxide that traps heat in the atmosphere, warming the planet.

President Donald Trump has boosted coal as part of his agenda to promote fossil fuels. He’s trying to save a declining industry with , , and offers of to restore coal plants.

That����ap created uncertainty in places like Craig. As some families like the Coopers plan for the next stage of their careers, others hold out hope that Trump will save their plants, mines and high-paying jobs.

Matt and Matthew Cooper work at the Colowyo Mine near Meeker, though active mining has ended and site cleanup begins in January.

The mine employs about 130 workers and supplies Craig Generating Station, a 1,400-megawatt coal-fired plant. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association is planning to close Craig’s Unit 1 by year’s end for economic reasons and to meet legal requirements for reducing emissions. The other two units will close in 2028.

Xcel Energy owns coal-fired Hayden Station, about 30 minutes away. It said it doesn’t plan to change retirement dates for Hayden, though it����ap extending another coal unit in Pueblo in part due to increased demand for electricity.

The Craig and Hayden plants together employ about 200 people.

Craig residents have always been entrepreneurial and that spirit will get them through this transition, said Kirstie McPherson, board president for the Craig Chamber of Commerce. Still, she said, just about everybody here is connected to coal.

“You have a whole community who has always been told you are an energy town, you’re a coal town,” she said. “When that starts going away, beyond just the individuals that are having the identity crisis, you have an entire culture, an entire community that is also having that same crisis.”

Phasing out coal

Coal has been central to Colorado’s economy since before statehood, but it����ap generally the most expensive energy on today’s grid, said Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.

“We are not going to let this administration drag us backwards into an overreliance on expensive fossil fuels,” Polis said in a statement.

Nationwide, coal power was 28% more expensive in 2024 than it was in 2021, costing consumers $6.2 billion more, according to a June analysis from Energy Innovation. The nonpartisan think tank cited significant increases to run aging plants as well as inflation.

Colorado’s six remaining coal-fired power plants are scheduled to close or convert to natural gas, which emits about half the carbon dioxide as coal, by 2031. The state is rapidly adding solar and wind that����ap cheaper and cleaner than legacy coal plants. Renewable energy provides more than 40% of Colorado’s power now and will pass 70% by the end of the decade, according to statewide utility plans.

Nationwide, wind and solar growth has remained strong, producing more electricity than coal in 2025, as of the latest data in October, according to energy think tank Ember.

But some states want to increase or at least maintain coal production. That includes top coal state Wyoming, where the Wyoming Energy Authority said Trump is breathing welcome new life into its coal and mining industry.

Planning for the future

The Coopers have gone all-in on geothermal.

“Maybe we’ll never go back to coal,” Matt Cooper said. “We haven’t (gone) back to oil and gas, so we might just be geothermal people for quite some time, maybe generations, and then eventually something else will come along.”

While the Coopers were learning to use their drill in October, Wade Gerber was in downtown Craig distilling grain neutral spirits — used to make gin and vodka — on a day off from the Craig Station power plant. Gerber stepped over his corgis, Ali and Boss, and onto a stepladder to peer into a massive stainless steel pot where he was heating wheat and barley.

Gerber’s spent three decades in coal. When closure plans were announced four years ago, he, his wife Tenniel and their friend McPherson brainstormed business ideas.

“With my background in plumbing and electrical from the plant, it����ap like, oh yeah, I can handle that part of it,” Gerber said about distilling. “This is the easy part.”

He used Tri-State’s education subsidies for classes in distilling, while other co-workers learned to fix vehicles or repair guns to find new careers. While some plan to leave town, Gerber is opening Bad Alibi Distillery. McPherson and Tenniel Gerber are opening a cocktail bar next door.

Everyone in town hopes Trump will step in to extend the plant����ap life, Gerber said. Meanwhile, they’re trying to define a new future for Craig in a nerve-wracking time.

“For me, my products can go elsewhere. I don’t necessarily have to sell it in Craig, there’s that avenue. For someone relying on Craig, it����ap even scarier,” he said.

Questioning the coal rollback

Tammy Villard owns a gift shop, Moffat Mercantile, with her husband. After the coal closures were announced, they opened a commercial print shop too, seeing it as a practical choice for when so many high-paying jobs go away.

Villard, who spent a decade at Colowyo as administrative staff, said she doesn’t understand how the state can throw the switch to turn off coal and still have reliable electricity. She wants the state to slow down.

Villard describes herself as a moderate Republican. She said political swings at the federal level — from the green energy push in the last administration to doubling down on fossil fuels in this one — aren’t helpful.

“The pendulum has to come back to the middle,” she said, “and we are so far out to either side that I don’t know how we get back to that middle.”

___

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The U.S. Department of the Interior plans to , which directs the Bureau of Land Management to consider the conservation of public lands to be equally important as commercial uses like oil and gas extraction, mining, grazing and timber harvesting. When they announced the rollback, administration officials said the rule placed outsized priority on conservation and threatened to curtail grazing, energy development and other traditional land uses.

“The most effective caretakers of our federal lands are those whose livelihoods rely on its well-being,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the proposal was unveiled. “Overturning this rule protects our American way of life and gives our communities a voice in the land that they depend on.”

Colorado conservation advocates said the rollback of the rule is shortsighted. The 2024 rule gives the BLM the tools to make sure the it manages — or nearly 13,000 square miles — remain healthy and productive for future generations, they said.

The rule provided balance so that the agency could “really embrace the most significant growing part of Western economies — the recreation economy,” said Michael Carroll, BLM campaign director for . “By not having balanced management on those landscapes, the pressure climate change is going to put on those landscapes is going to ultimately restrict the use of those lands, no matter what that use is.”

The proposed rollback is the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to open more public land to development and relax regulations around commercial uses on them.

Months after a proposal to sell some of the West’s public lands failed due to an incredible onslaught of public opposition, federal lawmakers and the Trump administration are trying other methods to weaken protections for public lands, say conservation and recreation advocates.

“In the West, public lands power our outdoor economies, provide critical water and grazing resources for agriculture, and give our residents unmatched opportunities to recreate and enjoy the peace and solitude that comes along with time spent in nature,” said Anna Peterson, the executive director of , an organization that works with over 100 communities across the western U.S. on environmental and economic sustainability.

“But threats from the Trump administration and radical anti-public lands politicians are putting our shared outdoor heritage in danger of being exploited for short-term gain.”

Public lands policy change

The BLM implemented what’s known as the Public Lands Rule — formally called — in . Local offices had just received guidance on how to use the new rule when President Donald Trump took office in January.

Implementation has ground to a halt.

“We never got the opportunity to see the Public Lands Rule fully implemented,” Carroll said.

Along with conservation, the rule designated several other uses of BLM land as equally important as commercial uses — access to nature, plus protection of cultural resources and wildlife habitat, along with using the land to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The rule gave the agency several new tools to implement that goal:

• It allowed communities or other entities to lease BLM land for restoration.
• It created a program in which companies using BLM land can lease land for mitigation efforts to offset negative environmental impacts from energy development, mining, grazing or timber harvesting.
• It streamlined the process for designating areas of critical environmental concern and expanded the definition for what qualified for the more stringent protections available for those areas.

In Colorado, state leaders and conservation groups had hoped to use the new rules governing areas of critical environmental concern to better protect wildlife corridors, big game populations and wilderness areas in the southwest corner of the state, said Juli Slivka, the policy director for the Carbondale-based . The BLM’s , based in Montrose, is .

“Under the (public lands) rule, there is a lot more space for them to do that,” Slivka said, lamenting the proposed rollback.

Communities along the Colorado River could’ve used the new conservation leases to restore riparian environments, Carroll said.

“Giving communities and local governments the ability to take out conservation and restoration leases would’ve been instrumental in a lot of the restoration moving forward,” he said.

The Public Lands Rule enjoyed broad support among Colorado’s Democratic congressional delegation. More than 150,000 people commented in 2023 on the rule after it was proposed, and found that 92% of comments supported it.

“In moving to rescind this rule, the Trump administration is undermining efforts to protect our lands for the next generation,” U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, whose district includes the state’s central and northern mountains, said in a statement. “Already this year, we’ve seen their radical agenda call for the auctioning off of millions of acres of our public lands, including here in Colorado, and continued attacks on the public servants in our land management agencies.

“We’ll continue to push back against these efforts — which are deeply unpopular with the public — and are building a bipartisan coalition to make clear that public lands must stay in public hands.”

U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Republican whose western and southern Colorado district contains the majority of the BLM land in Colorado, did not respond to a request for comment on the rollback.

Rep. Jeff Crank, the Republican representing the Colorado Springs-based 5th Congressional District, applauded the BLM’s move and said the Biden administration “stepped away from its statutory core mission — to manage lands for multiple use.”

“I applaud BLM’s decision to rescind the rule, it will make sure that our public lands are accessible and fruitful for the benefit of all Americans,” Crank said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing working with the administration and House Republicans on further ways we can promote productive management of Western lands.”

Public comment on the administration’s proposed rule rescission is .

Other efforts underway

The proposed change to the Public Lands Rule is one of several major ongoing overhauls of federal public lands policy.

Taken together, the changes threaten to overrule public input on how federal lands should be managed and amount to “one of the biggest assaults on balanced management in a generation,” Carroll said.

“It all amounts to putting the thumb on the scale for industry, over and over again,” he said.

Republican lawmakers in several Western states — Alaska, Montana and North Dakota — are looking to use to overturn management plans for BLM land in their states that they believe are too restrictive on mining and energy development. The first-of-its-kind use of the Congressional Review Act to challenge BLM management plans could set a precedent that lawmakers have the final say on those plans, which are drafted over years and require broad community and industry input.

There are no known efforts to undo management plans in Colorado through the Congressional Review Act, Carroll said. But if the other states’ lawmakers are successful, he said, they could create a roadmap for doing so in the future.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, is pursuing the . The rule bans the construction of roads, and the commercial uses those roads enable, in 45 million acres of Forest Service land.

Colorado’s 4.2 million acres of roadless areas will not be impacted if the rule is rescinded, however, because the Forest Service has a .