Crested Butte faces the modern plights of Colorado mountain towns. How are locals feeling about Vail's new stamp on the ski resort?
BRECKENRIDGE • Snow crunches. Branches snap. In the shady woods east of town, people sneak through the trees.
GUNNISON • A peculiar, sweet sound drifts down Main Street.
“The LAST Great Place.” So reads the town’s welcome sign in this inconspicuous place between towering granite walls, somewhere between the bet…
LA VETA • From the high gravel road, the Sangre de Cristo mountains appear to have been swallowed by a dark shadow that won’t soon rise.
No matter how you get there, the views going into Lake City are spectacular.
TIMNATH - The house hides under the concrete bridge of Harmony Road, which carves between Costco and Walmart and fast-food joints and parking …
HUERFANO COUNTY - Ray Shaw is passed by every day. Anyone who's driven down Interstate 25 toward Walsenburg has seen his name on the wall of t…
MARBLE - More homes are in demand, and Mike Yellico will provide, though not without feeling some conflict. The long-haired, Chaco-footed owne…
Jim Bishop and his castle are the definition of "Colorful Colorado." Bishop, a lifelong Pueblo resident, acquired property off Colorado 165 as…
VICTOR - Karen and Sam Morrison are known for their brooms. "But we're more than that," Karen says inside Victor Trading Co., the soft-spoken …
Huerfano County - From Interstate 25, it's as impossible to miss as the wind turbines that break the view of the mighty twin peaks: a 300-foot…
CAÑON CITY - The monks are gone, along with the property's Catholic distinction, but whether the former Holy Cross Abbey is more historic than…
EAGLE COUNTY - This winter, maybe on their way to ski resorts off Interstate 70, people will drive west on U.S. 24, passing Leadville and the …
WOODY CREEK - I was warned that I would be an outsider here, and that I wouldn't do myself any favors by asking around about Hunter S. Thompso…
ANTONITO - A man was being mean at the Indiana Jones Bed and Breakfast, and all Sabra Lynn had to do was stare him down. She was ready to kick…
ALLENSPARK - Traditions have come and gone here at Meeker Park Lodge, but this one around suppertime remains. The setting sun casts an orange …
RED FEATHER LAKES - Main street, as the locals know it, is a gravel lot where a three-legged dog hobbles. He wanders by the Ace Hardware, a ne…
WESTCLIFFE - The drive south starts out barren, the empty ribbons of dusty road carving through towns of crumbling buildings and rusting trail…
VICTOR - Much has come and gone here, but one thing that remains is the sporting goods store on 3rd Street. Gus Conley is still here, slumped …
ALMA - It's tough living here. "Definitely, you've got to be a hearty soul to make it a long time," Mayor Gary Goettelman says. Just ask Erik …
MONTE VISTA - A man points his finger to the deep blue sky hanging over the white-capped peaks beyond, tracing the path of the great creature …
Leadville - The blustery storm did not faze James Duke. There he was amid the raging snow that piled up on his black top hat and froze his whi…
Pagosa Springs - The lights of the riverside resort downtown shone bright, illuminating the man across the way. Waylon Smith, long-haired and …
CENTRAL CITY - Mike Keeler is enlivened by the dead of this town. There he was one day this summer, at one of Central City's 10 graveyards kee…
GEORGETOWN - This is the kind of place where a 10-year-old grabs a piece of candy from a store's old wooden shelves, turns around to an old wo…
GARFIELD COUNTY - It's easy getting lost. At least that's what I was told upon finally arriving at Trappers Lake Lodge and Resort. The drive f…
BUENA VISTA - There's tension here between the people who want their home one way and the people who are OK with the way it is going, and when…
RED CLIFF - A bluesy voice could be faintly heard over the river rushing through this town, tucked in a pocket of the White River National For…