Colorado National Parks, National Monuments and More in Colorado

National Park Service

Bents Old Fort National Historic Site
The fort provided explorers, adventurers, and the U.S. Army a place to get needed supplies, wagon repairs, livestock, good food, water and company, rest and protection in this vast "Great American Desert." During the war with Mexico in 1846, the fort became a staging area for Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny's "Army of the West". Disasters and disease caused the fort's abandonment in 1849.

Black Canyon Of The Gunnison National Park
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison's unique and spectacular landscape was formed slowly by the action of water and rock scouring down through hard Proterozoic crystalline rock.

Colorado National Monument
Colorado National Monument consists of geologic features including: towering red sandstone monoliths, deep, sheer-walled canyons, and a variety of wildlife (bighorn sheep, golden eagles, mule deer and mountain lions)

Curecanti National Recreation Area
Three reservoirs, named for corresponding dams on the Gunnison River, form the heart of Curecanti National Recreation Area. Panoramic mesas, fjord-like reservoirs, and deep, steep and narrow canyons abound.

Dinosaur National Monument
Dinosaur National Monument protects a large deposit of fossil dinosaur bones Some of the first dinosaur fossils found were huge bones and teeth, very lizard-like except for their size, and so the idea of monstrous lizards was born. The fossils at Dinosaur National Monument continue to help us learn more about these fascinating animals.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
The Florissant Fossil Beds hold remnants of the earth's prehistoric life. Huge petrified redwoods and incredibly detailed fossils of ancient insects and plants reveal a very different Colorado of long ago.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
Nestled in southern Colorado, North America's tallest dunes rise over 750 feet high against the rugged Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The wind shaped dunes glow beneath the rugged backdrop of the mountains.

Mesa Verde National Park
The archeological sites found in Mesa Verde are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States. Mesa Verde National Park offers visitors a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people.

Rocky Mountain National Park
The park exhibits the massive grandeur of the Rocky Mountains. Trail Ridge Road crosses the Continental Divide and looks out over dozens of peaks that tower more than 13,000 feet high. The high point on Trail Ridge Road is 12,183'. .Longs Peak, the highest peak in the park, is 14,259' in elevation.

Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site was perserved to recognize the national significance of the massacre in American history, and its ongoing signficance to the Cheyenne and Arapaho people.

Colorado National Parks, National Monuments and More in Colorado

National Park Service

Bureau of Land Management

Bureau of Reclamation

Department of Transportation

USDA Forest Service

Fish and Wildlife Service

stateparks

US Army Corps of Engineers