Editor’s note: Welcome to the fourth installment of our 15-week series Colorado 150, marking 150 years of statehood with our favorite Colorado things.
When I moved to Durango, I was, like many, intrigued by the local river, the River of Lost Souls or El Río de las Ánimas Perdidas. Since then, I’ve learned about its history and origins. I’ve seen how it is the heartbeat of the community — the backdrop to family gatherings, love, loss, friendship and fun.
My first year in Durango, I was talked into breaking the river’s ice and jumping in on Jan. 1. Since then, I’ve rafted its waters, walked its banks and taken respite in its flow on hot summer days. Sometimes, I put wishes and worries into it and watch them flow away. After becoming a water reporter, I began to understand its role in tribal history and growth, local economies and agricultural legacies, quality of life, and the health of the environment and every species that depends on it.
Water drives our economies and nourishes our souls. For some, Colorado’s rivers are living beings. For others, they’re like liquid gold with the power to put food on the table. And what’s better than finding a hot spring that you can go to at night and see the stars? (My personal favorite is the natural spring on the Piedra River, a quick detour off U.S. 160 in southwestern Colorado and short hike to a campground right next to the river.)
No matter how you choose to enjoy water, take a second to feel and appreciate its powerful, fundamental role in our world. As one tribal leader recently reminded me, our lives begin in water in the womb. Water is life — say a quick “thank you” as it slips by.
Shannon Mullane | Water Reporter
Glenwood Hot Springs Resort
Without a doubt, one of Colorado’s most historic places to experience the feeling of where the mountains, river and hot springs collide. And if you catch it on a snowy evening, even better.
It’s certainly changed from the time Doc Holliday ventured to the area in the late 1880s for the medicinal purposes of the healing springs and nearby vapor caves. A major remodel of the pool area wrapped up in 2024, was followed by upgrades to the more 100-room lodge. There are a number of hot springs in the region, so a loop around the area could be a fun weekend.
Sand Dunes Recreation
A literal oasis in southern Colorado west of the Grand Sand Dunes National Park, this complex is one of the numerous hot springs bubbling in the expansive San Luis Valley. In addition to a large outdoor pool, tucked to the side is an adults-only indoor pool and hot tubs inside a year-round atrium bursting with jungle-like greenery.
And if you’re making a long trek to the SLV for some of the other touristy things (alligator park, a UFO view tower, or an old-school drive-in), the site (also known as the Hooper hot springs) has camping and cabins available.
Mount Princeton Hot Springs
The possibilities are pretty endless and incredibly kid-friendly at the resort tucked at the base of the 14,200-foot Mount Princeton. The pools and the resort complex are on the banks of Chalk Creek, which runs milky white after a rainstorm hits the chalk cliffs upstream.
It’s a popular place for family reunions, and with area residents getting discounts and yearly passes, it can be a fun mix of locals and visitors. The adults-only area on the south side of the creek is a lot slower pace than the uphill area with its twin, 700-foot-long waterslides and infinity pool.
Avalanche Ranch Hot Springs
Ranging from covered-wagon-style accommodations to quaint cabins, this small resort in the Crystal River Valley is all about being chill and peaceful. The resort has a strict cap on day passes (it can take months to get a reservation), but that’s a big part of the charm.
And once day turns to night, the small pools built into the side of the hill stay open around the clock for the overnight guests, making the stay even more special. A midnight stroll from your bunk to soak under the stars and then walking back is, well, pretty Colorado. Visit when it’s bear season and you’re in for a treat.
Colorado River Headwaters
Let’s call it the West’s most critical 80 miles. The Colorado River begins as a dribble in Rocky Mountain National Park before swelling into a lifeline that sates and powers some 40 million downstream Americans. And those headwaters — roughly 80 miles from the park through Gore Canyon and into Eagle County — are where the trickle turns to torrent.
From deep and cold mountain reservoirs — Shadow Mountain and Lake Granby — through two Gold Medal fisheries and one of the rowdiest stretches of whitewater on the Colorado in the stunning Gore Canyon, the Colorado River Headwaters are a crown jewel of the state.
Rio Grande Headwaters
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Rio Grande headwaters, a steep mountainside in the Weminuche Wilderness that serves as a multinational starting line, where waters begin a journey as an ever-fainter field of snow and eventually flow until they reach the Gulf of Mexico.
You can make it partway to the headwaters by driving up the jaw-dropping Stony Pass, which threads high above the Rio Grande reservoir and is dotted with remote campsites along the way. Launching from Creede you can make an incredibly scenic day of it, or grab your gaiters and head for even higher ground, venturing into the state’s largest wilderness area.
Salida Scout Wave
More than a quarter-century of tinkering with waves and water in the Arkansas River has yielded what many consider the best river surf wave in the world. When the Scout Wave is peaking and glassy, surfers flock to Salida, often setting up giant lights so they can carve the standing wall of water though the night.
The Scout Wave anchors Salida’s transformative embrace of the river as a treasure for locals and visitors alike. It’s like a ski area for a mountain town and the Scout Wave is helping Salida redefine a modern-day river town.
Rafting the Yampa River
The snow-fed Yampa River is one of the West’s last free rivers, rolling from the Park Range above Steamboat Springs west to the iconic Steamboat Rock in Dinosaur National Monument near the Utah border. Unlike just about all the moving water in the West, the Yampa does not have big dams and diversions to slow its roll.
That means it can reach 20,000 cubic-feet-per-second after bountiful winters or a fraction of that in increasingly common leaner years. The Yampa floats tubes in towns, kayaks in the stout Cross Mountain Gorge and rafts in the remote, steep canyons of Dinosaur. It also supports diverse wildlife and ecologies as it tumbles across a semi-arid plateau.
Dolores River
The River of Sorrows only rarely floats boats. But when the snow does pile deep in the Disappointment Creek basin, the Dolores River feeds not just local agriculture but paddlers aplenty. With upstream users holding flows to feed parched farmers, a Dolores River paddling season often includes a five-year gap.
But when it flows, it’s one of North America’s most scenic river stretches, meandering through remote wilderness and stunning canyons. The untrammeled beauty of the Dolores River has fueled calls to protect some 400,000 acres around the river in Mesa and Montrose counties as a national monument, which worries some locals.
Evergreen Pond Skating
This Colorado adventure is epic when the weather is right, but the ice skating season has changed as the winters are warmer. Once Evergreen Lake freezes, there are acres and acres of skating and a number of small hockey rinks for low-key pickup games.
The log-cabin style lakehouse serves as the skate rental shop and warming center, and it’s one of the quickest winter day trips you can take into the foothills west of Denver. Best to check before you venture out to make sure the ice conditions are good. (And it’s not a bad place to check out in the summer for the low-key boating rentals and paddle boarding.)