Front Range

The Front Range runs along the Colorado corridor where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains, a north–south strip from Wyoming to the Pikes Peak region. Most of the state’s population lives here, concentrated in a chain of cities and college towns along Interstate 25 with the mountain wall rising abruptly to the west. Elevations average around 5,000 feet, with the foothills climbing through 8,000 within minutes of any city center. Counties along the corridor include Larimer, Weld, Boulder, Adams, Jefferson, Denver, Arapahoe, Douglas, El Paso, and Pueblo. Anchor cities include Fort Collins, Loveland, Boulder, Denver, Castle Rock, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. Rocky Mountain National Park sits west of Estes Park; Pikes Peak rises west of Colorado Springs; the Flatirons frame Boulder; Garden of the Gods carries the most accessible red-rock scenery. Trips here use the corridor as a base. Most visitors stay in one of the cities and day-trip into the mountains — Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park to the north, Manitou Springs and Pikes Peak to the south, foothill trails like Boulder’s Flatirons or Golden’s Lookout Mountain in between.