Portal:Colorado
The Colorado Portal


WikiProject Colorado


You need not be either an expert or a resident.
You only need an active interest in the Centennial State.
Request an article about a Colorado topic here or volunteer here.
Colorado Events
- Wikimedia US Mountain West Summer 2025 online meeting, Tuesday, August 19, 2025, 8:00-9:00 PM MDT
- Wikimedia US Mountain West Autumn 2025 online meeting, Tuesday, November 11, 2025, 8:00-9:00 PM MST
Previous events:
|
---|
Colorado events
|
Colorado Facts
- Date admitted to Union: August 1, 1876 (38th State)
- Demonym: Coloradan
- Capital: Denver
- Elected state officers:
- Governor: Jared Polis (D) (2019–)
- Lieutenant Governor: Dianne Primavera (D) (2019–)
- Secretary of State: Jena Griswold (D) (2019–)
- Treasurer: Dave Young (D) (2019–)
- Attorney General: Phil Weiser (D) (2019–)
- Colorado General Assembly:
- Colorado Senate:
- D-23 R-12 (2023–2024}
- Colorado House of Representatives:
- D-46 R-19 (2023–2024}
- Colorado Senate:
- Colorado Supreme Court:
- Brian Boatright, Chief Justice (2021–)
- Monica Márquez (2010-)
- William Hood, III (2014–)
- Richard Gabriel (2015–)
- Melissa Hart (2017–)
- Carlos Samour, Jr (2018–)
- Maria Berkenkotter (2021–)
- U.S. Senators:
- Class 2. John Hickenlooper (D) (2021–)
- Class 3. Michael Bennet (D) (2009–)
- 1. Diana DeGette (D) (1997–)
- 2. Joe Neguse (D) (2019–)
- 3. Lauren Boebert (R) (2021–2025)
- 4. vacant
- 5. Doug Lamborn (R) (2007–2025)
- 6. Jason Crow (D) (2019–)
- 7. Brittany Pettersen (D) (2023-)
- 8. Yadira Caraveo (D) (2023–)
- Total area: 104,094 square miles (269,602 km2) (eighth most extensive state)
- Highest elevation: Mount Elbert 14,440 feet (4,401.2 m) (third highest state)
- Mean elevation: 6,800 feet (2,070 m) (highest state)
- Lowest elevation: Arikaree River 3,317 feet (1,011 m) (highest state)
- Population (2020 census): 5,773,714 (21st most populous state)
- Population density: 55.47 per square mile (21.40 km−2) (39th most densely populated state)
- Number of counties: 64 counties (including two consolidated city and county governments)
- Number of municipalities: 273 municipalities, comprising 2 consolidated city and county governments, 73 cities, and 198 towns
- Time zone: MST=UTC−07, MDT=UTC−06
- USPS code: CO
- ISO 3166 code: US-CO
- Adjacent U.S. states: Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah (tied for third most)
- State government website: Colorado.gov
- State tourism website: Colorado.com
State Symbols
Subcategories
Interstate 70 (I-70) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from Cove Fort, Utah, to Baltimore, Maryland. In Colorado, the highway traverses an east–west route across the center of the state. In western Colorado, the highway connects the metropolitan areas of Grand Junction and Denver via a route through the Rocky Mountains. In eastern Colorado, the highway crosses the Great Plains, connecting Denver with metropolitan areas in Kansas and Missouri. Bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles, normally prohibited on Interstate Highways, are allowed on those stretches of I-70 in the Rockies where no other through route exists.
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) lists the construction of I-70 among the engineering marvels undertaken in the Interstate Highway System and cites four major accomplishments: the section through the Dakota Hogback, Eisenhower Tunnel, Vail Pass, and Glenwood Canyon. The Eisenhower Tunnel, with a maximum elevation of 11,158 feet (3,401 m) and length of 1.7 miles (2.7 km), is the longest mountain tunnel and highest point along the Interstate Highway System. The portion through Glenwood Canyon was completed on October 14, 1992. This was one of the final pieces of the Interstate Highway System to open to traffic and is one of the most expensive rural highways per mile built in the country. The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) earned the 1993 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for the completion of I-70 through the canyon. (Full article...)
Selected mountain -
The highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the entire Mississippi River drainage basin.
Selected biography -
Selected article -
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is a national park of the United States located in western Colorado and managed by the National Park Service. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison was established as a national monument on March 2, 1933. It was redesignated a national park on October 21, 1999, and incorporated 4,000 acres owned by the Bureau of Land Management. The Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area was created at the same time. There are two primary entrances to the park: the south rim entrance is located 15 miles (24 km) east of Montrose, while the north rim entrance is 11 miles (18 km) south of Crawford and is closed in the winter. The park contains 12 miles (19 km) of the 48-mile-long (77 km) Gunnison River. The national park itself contains the deepest and most dramatic section of the canyon, but the canyon continues upstream into Curecanti National Recreation Area and downstream into Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area. The canyon's name owes itself to the fact that parts of the gorge only receive 33 minutes of sunlight a day, according to Images of America: The Black Canyon of the Gunnison. In the book, author Duane Vandenbusche states, "Several canyons of the American West are longer and some are deeper, but none combines the depth, sheerness, narrowness, darkness, and dread of the Black Canyon." (Full article...)
Selected image -
National Parks in Colorado
The 23 national parks in Colorado:
- Amache National Historic Site
- Arapaho National Recreation Area
- Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
- Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
- Browns Canyon National Monument
- Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument
- Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
- Chimney Rock National Monument
- Colorado National Monument
- Continental Divide National Scenic Trail
- Curecanti National Recreation Area
- Dinosaur National Monument
- Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
- Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
- Hovenweep National Monument
- Mesa Verde National Park and World Heritage Site
- Old Spanish National Historic Trail
- Pony Express National Historic Trail
- Rocky Mountain National Park
- Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
- Santa Fe National Historic Trail
- Yucca House National Monument
Interesting facts-

- On August 13, 2020, the Cameron Peak Fire ignited which would surpass the Pine Gulch Fire to become the most extensive wild fire in Colorado history.
- On March 13, 2020, a woman in El Paso County became the first person in Colorado to die from the COVID-19 virus.
- On July 31, 2020, lightning ignited the Pine Gulch Fire which would surpass the Hayman Fire of 2002 to become the most extensive wild fire in Colorado history.
- On October 14, 2020, the East Troublesome Fire ignited which would also surpass the Pine Gulch Fire to become the second most extensive wild fire in Colorado history. Experts say the onslaught of 2020 Colorado wild fires was aggravated by climate change.
- On December 30, 2021, the Marshall Fire killed two people and destroyed 1,084 homes and seven businesses and damaged another 149 homes and 40 businesses
- U.S. President James Buchanan signed the organic act creating the free Territory of Colorado on February 28, 1861.
- The Union Pacific Railroad was completed west to Julesburg on November 18, 1867.
- Deer Trail hosted the world's first organized rodeo on July 4, 1869.
- The first of what would become the Colorado State Fair opened in Pueblo on October 9, 1872, four years before Colorado became a state.
- U.S. President Ulysses Grant signed the presidential declaration admitting the State of Colorado to the Union on August 1, 1876.
- Katherine Lee Bates wrote America the Beautiful after a trip to the summit of Pikes Peak in the summer of 1893.
Did you know (auto-generated) -

- ... that environmental journalist Gloria Dickie wrote her thesis on how cities in Colorado changed garbage laws to prevent bear incursions?
- ... that the No. 1–ranked 2023 Colorado Mines Orediggers, "college football's nerdiest contender", featured players with pigtails and a drawn-on blue mustache, a friar's haircut, and Harry Potter cosplay?
- ... that Ivan Ivan played for the Eagles and the Eagles?
- ... that Ruben A. Valdez, a high-school dropout, became the speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives?
- ... that a volunteer quipped of a Colorado TV station: "We broadcast to more ears of corn and heads of cattle than any other station"?
- ... that the 1976 Big Thompson River flood took place several hours before Colorado's 100th anniversary of statehood?
- ... that Donald Trump would "much prefer not having a picture than having this one"?
Related WikiProjects
Related portals
Resources
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus