Mapping Colorado: Why It’s Time to Update Your Regional Knowledge of the State

Most people in Colorado break the state into about three buckets: the Front Range, the Western Slope, and "the mountains." That's it. That's the whole mental map.

Geologists, though?

They carved the state into eight distinct sections, and honestly, it makes sense once you see it.

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The Big Five You Should Know

According to the Colorado Geological Survey, the state's five main geological regions are the Great Plains, the Southern Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Plateaus, the Wyoming Basin, and the Middle Rocky Mountains.

The Great Plains stretch the full length of the state, north to south, basically everything east of where the Rockies start climbing. Denver and Colorado Springs sit almost exactly on that boundary, which explains a lot about those cities if you think about it.

The Southern Rocky Mountains run the same north-south corridor, with Glenwood Springs on the western edge, tucking in counties like Eagle and Summit.

Here on the Western Slope, Grand Junction, Montrose, and Cortez all fall inside the Colorado Plateaus section. That's the big red rock country most of us actually live in.

Craig and a tiny spot called Wilson Place sit up in the northwest, split between the Wyoming Basin and the Middle Rocky Mountains.

Read More: Living in a Postcard: Why Most Coloradans Haven’t Visited the State’s Top Bucket List Spots

Wait, There Are Sub-Regions Too?

Yep. The Great Plains section actually breaks down into three subprovinces.

The Colorado Piedmont covers most of the Front Range: Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo.

The High Plains run along the entire eastern border. The Raton Basin covers the southern edge near Trinidad.

So the next time someone from Denver says they know Colorado, maybe hand them a geology map.