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Outdoors and wildfire

Hunting and fishing rules, trails, rivers, camping, winter sports, dark skies, and wildfire risk and defensible space — the public-land side of Colorado life.

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Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Purgatory Resort: Durango's Mountain in Every Season

Twenty-five miles up US 550 from Durango, Purgatory is the county's flagship resort, with deep San Juan snow in winter and an alpine slide, bike park, and chairlift rides in summer.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Queens State Wildlife Area near Eads is for hunting and fishing, with its own pass rules

Queens State Wildlife Area and its Great Plains reservoirs in Kiowa County are managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and visitors generally need a license or a State Wildlife Area pass.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Quincy Reservoir is a quiet, flies-and-lures-only fishing lake

Quincy Reservoir in Arapahoe County is a small City of Aurora lake managed for quality fishing, where only artificial flies and lures are allowed and gas motors are not.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Rabbit Valley: real dinosaur bones you can visit, but not collect

Off I-70 near the Utah line, the Trail Through Time and Mygatt-Moore Quarry let you see Jurassic dinosaur fossils in place on BLM land, where collecting vertebrate fossils is prohibited.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Rafting the Green and Yampa through Dinosaur needs a permit

Multi-day float trips on the Green and Yampa rivers inside Dinosaur National Monument require a National Park Service river permit, which is limited and usually awarded by lottery.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Rampart Range camping means designated sites, not 'camp anywhere'

The Rampart Range Recreation Area in Pike National Forest allows camping only in designated sites and closes its roads to vehicles in winter and mud season.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Rangely Rock Crawling Park: Colorado's only natural rock-crawling playground

A few miles southwest of Rangely sits the only natural rock-crawling park the BLM has designated in Colorado, free to enter and laid out in graded sections from easy to extreme.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Reaching Blanca Peak means walking or crawling up the Lake Como road

Blanca Peak, one of Colorado's highest summits, is reached from a trailhead off Highway 150 where a rough jeep road to Lake Como turns back most vehicles.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Red Mountain Open Space closes in winter for wildlife and bans dogs

Red Mountain Open Space, a large area of red rock and grassland near the Wyoming line, is open only part of the year to protect wintering wildlife, and it does not allow dogs.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Ridgway State Park is the county's big water-and-trails hub

Ridgway State Park sits along the Uncompahgre River just north of Ridgway with a reservoir, campgrounds, and trails, and like other Colorado state parks it has its own pass and rules.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Rio Blanco County is the heart of the White River elk herd

The White River valley supports one of Colorado's largest elk herds, which shapes hunting seasons, fall driving, and even fences and crops on local ranches.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Riverside Park: Fort Morgan's riverfront walk along the South Platte

A big downtown park on the South Platte where roughly six miles of nature trails follow the river, with easy walking, picnics, and seasonal birding.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Rocky Flats refuge trails sit just west of Broomfield

A federal wildlife refuge with public hiking trails sits just west of Broomfield, and it has its own access rules set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Roxborough's tilted red rocks are a protected National Natural Landmark

Roxborough State Park near Littleton protects tilted red sandstone and an archaeological district, with strict rules that keep its scenery and wildlife pristine.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

San Luis Lakes is a State Wildlife Area, not a state park

San Luis Lakes, on the valley floor in neighboring Alamosa County, is now a Colorado Parks and Wildlife State Wildlife Area, where most visitors age 16 and older need a hunting or fishing license or an SWA pass to enter.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

San Luis Lakes State Wildlife Area: open water and great birding

San Luis Lakes State Wildlife Area north of Alamosa offers open water and wetlands for excellent waterfowl watching, with a few simple rules to plan around: an access pass, a seasonal nesting closure, and boating limits.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Sand Canyon and Rock Creek trails keep you on the route

West of Cortez in Canyons of the Ancients, the Sand Canyon and Rock Creek trails are open to hiking, biking, and horses, but travel is restricted to the designated routes.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Sand Wash Basin is wild-horse country, and it has its own rules

West of Craig, the BLM manages the Sand Wash Basin as a wild horse area, which is public land for viewing and recreation but not a developed park.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Sandhill cranes pass through the San Luis Valley each spring and fall

Tens of thousands of sandhill cranes stop in the San Luis Valley during spring and fall migration, best viewed at dawn and dusk from nearby wildlife refuges and state wildlife areas.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Sandhill cranes pass through the valley, with Russell Lakes a Saguache County stop

Each spring and fall, thousands of sandhill cranes stop in the San Luis Valley, and Russell Lakes State Wildlife Area in Saguache County is one of the places to watch them.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Sarvis Creek Wilderness is a quiet, green, low-elevation corner of Colorado wild

The Sarvis Creek Wilderness southeast of Steamboat is heavily wooded with no alpine tundra, offering peaceful forest hiking and good elk country; plan around beetle-killed trees that can fall without warning.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Securing your trash is the main job of living with bears in Summit County

Black bears are part of life around Breckenridge and Summit County, and most conflicts trace back to unsecured trash, which is why securing food and garbage is both smart and often required.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Sedgwick Bar State Wildlife Area sits right on the South Platte River

This riverside State Wildlife Area in Sedgwick County offers fishing, hunting, and wildlife viewing along the South Platte, but it runs on State Wildlife Area rules, not park rules.

Outdoors and wildfire - June 10, 2026

Shelf Road north of Cañon City is a rock-climbing area on BLM land

The Shelf Road Recreation Area north of Cañon City is BLM public land known for sport climbing on limestone cliffs, with small campgrounds bookable through Recreation.gov and back-road access along the Gold Belt Tour byway.

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