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Colorado
Natural and Heritage Treasures

ur states natural wonders are world famous. Soaring peaks, rolling prairies, scenic vistas and abundant wildlife, from tiny songbirds to lumbering moose. Less well-known but equally fascinating are the states cultural attractions. From ancient cities of rock built in rugged canyons by ancestral Puebloans to todays vibrant, 21st century communities, Colorado has a wealth of heritage treasures just waiting to be discovered.

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Birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts visit Colorado for

Looking for great CoLorado trip ideas? Let our guide to some of CoLorados

ColoradoS
The Central Plains
In the counties of Elbert, Kit Carson, Lincoln and Cheyenne, the small towns are still welcoming and the history of the West is still intact.
Fields oF wAving grAin and blue skies rarely marred by clouds create a picture of serenity. But the quiet prairie whispers stories about the people who came here, survived here and ultimately created multigenerational ties here. The people of the Central Plains want you to learn their story, called Our Journey, then create your own Journey to the Plains. With museums and attractions, shops and events, theres always more history to discover. One ticket grants entry for fourteen sites: Hedlund House Museum, Hugo; Limon Heritage Museum & Railroad Park, Limon; Worlds Wonder View Tower, Genoa; Arriba Museum and Grampa Jerrys Clown Museum, Arriba; Elbert County Museum, Kiowa; Flagler Hospital Museum and Hal Borland Room and Second Central School Museum, Flagler; Kit Carson County Carousel and Old Town, Burlington; Kit Carson Museum, Kit Carson; Cheyenne County Museum and Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Museum, Cheyenne Wells; plus a new museum to be unveiled this year300-plus saddles at a ranch near Simla (watch for details!). Visit www.ourjourney.info to begin discovering the wonderful heritage of Colorados Central Plains.

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WIld TrEaSUrES
most historiCaLLy riCh & speCtaCuLarLy sCeniC destinations provide you with the inspiration!
much of the southeast region is akin to a giant aviary. 430 of the states 470 bird species can be seen living in or migrating through the area. The playa lakes of Lake
Henry and Lake Meredith in Crowley County are important stopovers for migrating shorebirds and a great place to look for eagles. Boggsville, a non-military settlement along the Santa Fe Trail, is famous among birders as a great place to hear, and (with luck) spot, elusive black rails. Near Granada, lesser prairie-chickens can be seen on private ranches in spring on an Arena Dust Tours excursion.Then there are the Fowler Lagoons, Rocky Ford State Wildlife Area, Kiowa Creek Natural Area at Eads and the Great Plains Reservoirs. Canyons on the prairie? Picketwire, Cottonwood and Carrizo canyons offer terrific chances to see wild turkeys, roadrunners, all kinds of songbirds and raptors, and even bighorn sheep. Colorados western history is alive at Bents Old Fort (which boasts the highest bird density of any National Park in the Southern Plains,) and Sand Creek national historic sites. For more recent history, visit Camp Amache, a World War II internment camp for Japanese-Americans, and Depression-era WPA buildings in the town of Kim, located on the western reaches of Comanche National Grassland. www.secoloradoheritage.com. Verde National Park, with its fascinating cliff dwellings. The parks pion-juniper habitat hosts ash-throated flycatchers, western scrub-jays, blackthroated gray warblers and raptors such as golden eagles and peregrine falcons. After a day watching birds, searching for moose or following a scenic byway, visitors will find all kinds of historic and cultural attractions. In South Central Colorado the historic town of Trinidad was once a main stop on the Santa Fe Trail. The downtown National Historic District includes stunning architecture along with museums and a professional repertory theatre. Visitors can then drive north on the Highway of Legends Scenic Byway. Set in the shadow of the Spanish Peaks, it connects Trinidad, La Veta and Walsenburg, carrying visitors through towns that still reflect the states mining and immigrant past. Perhaps best known for its annual Chile and Frijoles Festival, Pueblo is also the site of the Union Avenue Historic District, the Riverwalk and a great many arts and cultural attractions, including theSangre de Cristo Arts & Conference Centerand the nationally recognized Buell Childrens Museum. The El Pueblo Museum celebrates the areas history and cultural diversity while the Nature and Raptor Center offers hiking along the Arkansas River. Caon City is home to one of the largest suspension bridges in the world, a classic restored passenger train, the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, and an award-winning winery, The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey. Whitewater rafting along the Royal Gorge is among the best in the state.

its diverse wildlife heritage, and every corner of the state has something wonderful to discover. Tucked into all that scenic beauty, are wonderful treasures of culture and history. Framed by the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan Mountain Ranges, southern Colorados San Luis Valley is rich in ecological diversity. A birdwatchers paradise, it boasts wetlands with abundant waterfowl, songbirds, waders and raptors. Shrublands attract sage thrashers and Brewers sparrows; foothills are home to spotted and green-tailed towhees; forests are filled with Stellers jays, pygmy nuthatches and Williamsons sapsuckers; and high mountain peaks are home to white-tailed ptarmigan, brown-capped rosy-finches and American pipits. The Valleys Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (www.nps.gov/grsa) boasts the tallest dunes in North America. Where else but Colorado would visitors use modified skis and snowboards to rush down towering mountains of sand! Southeastern Colorado boasts 400+ bird species, rivaling just about any other inland area in North America. Endangered least terns and threatened piping plovers both nest in John Martin Reservoir State Park, one of 42 Colorado state parks (http://parks.state.co.us). In winter, bald eagles and snow geese are common visitors. Nighttime on the Eastern Plains offers a display of celestial light, making the area popular with stargazers and astronomy enthusiasts. Southwest Colorado is home to four national parks and monuments, including Mesa 12 Audubon May-June 2011

The Southeast
Don BaiLey

Kit Carson County Carousel

Brian HawkinS

The southwest region

The wide open spaces of the San Luis Valley offer a wonderful mix of scenic wonders, historic sites, and cultural heritage.
Three wildliFe reFuges encompass more than 100,000 acres of wetlands and nutrient-rich habitat perfect for grazing, roosting and feeding by resident and migrating wildlife, including loons, pelicans, herons, egrets, swans, hawks, eagles, falcons, sandpipers and owls. In fall and spring, as many as 20,000 sandhill cranes pass through. The geographic isolation of the San Luis Valley and abundance of public lands provides a coveted place for exploration, adventure, and solitude. Visitors can hike, camp, rock climb, mountain bike, horseback ride, ice climb, snowshoe and backcountry ski. In the shadow of the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges, the Valleys small towns and historic churches are testament to the earliest Hispanic settlement of Colorado as well as a vibrant contemporary culture. The Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, comprised of Alamosa, Conejos, and Costilla counties, celebrates this rich heritage. Here an indigenous nomadic lifestyle converged with Mexican land grants and Penitente moradas (sacred meeting houses). This area includes the oldest town in Colorado (San Luis), and the oldest parish in Colorado (Our Lady of Guadalupe in Conejos). Visit www.alamosa.org for more info.

of Colorado is rich in natural heritage. From the sheer depths of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park to the vistas from Grand Mesa, the regions richly varied terrain provides habitat and sanctuary for hundreds of species of wildlife.
The birds here Are as varied as the terrain, bringing together southwestern species like Scotts orioles and Gambels quail, canyon birds like canyon wrens and white-throated swifts, and mountain birds such as mountain bluebirds and dusky grouse. A range of landscapes spans more than a mile of vertical elevation: from desert red rock canyons below 5,000 feet, across expansive sagebrushlands, through high mountain forests and meadows to alpine tundra atop 14,000-foot mountain peaks. Hike in the Rio Grande National Forest, explore the back-country of the Weminuche and South San Juan Wilderness Areas or drive along the San Juan Skyway or Trail of the Ancients Scenic Byways. Theres plenty in the way of cultural heritage to discover, too. Visit the upscale resort of Telluride or a small farming town in the shadow of the Grand Mesa. Explore a ghost town from mining days by jeep, discover ancient native history at Mesa Verde National Park or experience a wine tasting at a vineyard. After a day on the trail, soak in a natural hot spring in Ouray, Durango, Ridgway, Crestone or Pagosa Springs. www.swcolotravel.org
Tony Gurzick

v San Luis Valley

The Sangre de Cristo National Heritage area

May-June 2011 Audubon 13

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south central, colorado

splendid scenic & historic byways in

few states boast more nationally designated scenic byways than colorado. Here, we present just a small sampling of the half-dozen routes that showcase stories and treasured places of colorados south central region.

Gold Belt tour The roads to riches begins and ends near Caon City and entices you to explore old mining camps, fossils, the picturesque Royal Gorge and spectacular scenery. Other communities on the route: Florence, Penrose and Pueblo. HiGHway of leGends interweaves its history and legends into a tapestry made of Native American lore, disappearing Spanish Conquistadors, tales from early settlers and geological wonders that you wont find elsewhere. Explore Walsenburg, La Veta, Trinidad and Cuchara on this journey.

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Experience your own Colorado wildlife adventure

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WhEN vISItorS vENturE out to watch wildlife, they easily discover an abundance of the state's cultural heritage along the way. After a day scouting for bighorn sheep, visitors stop in local communities to dine, relax, shop and explore. the Colorado Birding trail (www.coloradobirdingtrail.com), a network of sites where visitors can observe birds and other wildlife, also invites discovery of towns, people, outdoor recreation, scenic byways and history in communities throughout the state. Colorado Birding Trail: Nothing introduces a community to visitors like a wildlife festival. At the coloradobirdingtrail.com Plover Festival, visitors stay with local families and gather for Karval Mountain community meals. Put on by community groups and volunteers, these festivals also offer craft and art shows, historic tours and talks by local experts. the Monte vista Crane Festival, now in its 28th year, has been joined by Eckert Crane Days on the Western Slope. then there are the high Plains Snow Goose Festival in Lamar, Eagle Day Festival in Pueblo, Bent on Birding in Bent County, ute Mountain-Mesa verde Birding Festival in Cortez, Elk Fest in Estes Park, Grand Mesa Moose Day in Grand Junction, the hummingbird Festival in Colorado Springs and more. For a complete listing of wildlife festivals, visit the Colorado Division of Wildlife online at: http://wildlife.state.co.us/viewing/eventsFestivals.

santa fe trail scenic and Historic Byway features areas where you can still discern the wagon-wheel ruts of the Santa Fe Trail wending their way across the prairie. This historic byway is a portion of the famous route that opened up the west, and includes Trinidads National Historic District.

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For a free copy of the 2011 Colorado official State vacation Guide, call 1-800-CoLorADo or visit www.Colorado.com

frontier PatHways mirrors the trails forged by American Indians, Spanish, French and American explorers. This drive takes you from Pueblo to the scenic town of Westcliffe and the silvermining town of Silver Cliff with breathtaking views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Wet Mountain Valley. Ringed by peaks soaring to more than 14,000 feet and brightened by sunshine 320 days a year, this green-pastured valley is vibrant with options for hiking, horseback riding, ATV and snowmobile riding, museum-hopping or just taking in the jaw-dropping view. Interested in history? Custer County has eight Centennial Farmshistoric farms or ranches still operated by the families that established them over one hundred years ago. www.bywaysTobirding.com

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