Santa Fe National Historic Trail

Near La Junta. A restored adobe fur trading post from the 1840s. Learn about the authentic Old West history of traders, trappers and Native Americans, all of whom came to the fort to barter.

Near Montrose. Extensive sand dunes up to 750 ft tall at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Range.

Near Granada. Site of the World War II Granada Relocation Center, a Japanese-American incarceration camp.

Near Florissant. Yes, there really are petrified redwood trees in Colorado, preserved in a rain of volcanic ash during the Pleistocene Era. Up to 1,700 species have been found, making this one of the most diverse fossil beds in the world.

Near Eads. Another dark chapter in U.S. relations with Native Americans. In 1864, soldiers from the U.S. military attacked a peaceful encampment of Cheyenne and Arapaho along Big Sandy Creek, on the Eastern Plains. Out of a group of largely women, children and the elderly, 150 were killed.

Near Salida. This canyon of the upper Arkansas River is popular for kayaking and whitewater rafting.