Gunnison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,918. The county seat is Gunnison. The county was named for John W. Gunnison, a United States Army officer and captain in the Army Topographical Engineers, who surveyed for the transcontinental railroad in 1853.
Delta County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,196. The county seat is Delta.
Delta is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Delta County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 9,035 at the 2020 United States Census. The United States Forest Service headquarters of the Grand Mesa, Gunnison, and Uncompahgre National Forests are located in Delta.
Hotchkiss is a statutory town in Delta County, Colorado, United States. The population was 875 at the 2020 census.
Crested Butte is a home rule municipality located in Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 1,639 at the 2020 United States Census. A former coal mining town nestled in the Slate River Valley, Crested Butte is now known as a destination for skiing, mountain biking, and outdoor activities.
Gunnison is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Gunnison County, Colorado. The city population was 6,560 at the 2020 United States Census. The city was named in honor of John W. Gunnison, a United States Army officer who surveyed for a transcontinental railroad in 1853. Gunnison is a college town, home to Western Colorado University.
The Western Slope is a colloquial term generally understood to describe the part of the state of Colorado west of the Continental Divide. Bodies of water west of the Divide flow toward the Pacific Ocean; water that falls and flows east of the Divide heads east toward the Gulf of Mexico. The Western Slope encompasses about 33% of the state, but has just 10% of the state's residents. The eastern part of the state, including the San Luis Valley and the Front Range, is the more populous portion of the state.
The Crystal River is a tributary of the Roaring Fork River. It is approximately 40 miles (64 km) long and is located in Gunnison, Pitkin and Garfield counties in Colorado, United States.
The Sevier River is a 400-mile (640 km)-long river in the Great Basin of southwestern Utah in the United States. Originating west of Bryce Canyon National Park, the river flows north through a chain of high farming valleys and steep canyons along the west side of the Sevier Plateau before turning southwest and terminating in the endorheic basin of Sevier Lake in the Sevier Desert. It is used extensively for irrigation along its course, with the consequence that Sevier Lake is usually dry.
The North Fork Gunnison River is a tributary of the Gunnison River, 33.5 miles (53.9 km) long, in southwestern Colorado in the United States. It drains part of the southwestern flank of the Elk Mountains northeast of Delta.
McClure Pass is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of western Colorado in the United States. It is located along the boundary between Pitkin and Gunnison counties, in a gap at the western side of the Elk Mountains. The pass is at an elevation of 8,755 feet (2,669 m)) and separates the headwaters of the Crystal River to the east with the headwaters of the North Fork Gunnison River to the west. The pass is named in honor of Thomas "Mack" McClure who in the late 19th Century owned a large house at the eastern base of the pass. The house served as a stage stop where McClure fed and lodged travelers.
Mount Lamborn is a mountain summit in the West Elk Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 11,402-foot (3,475 m) peak is located in Gunnison National Forest, 5.9 miles (9.5 km) southeast by south of the Town of Paonia in Delta County, Colorado, United States. The summit of Mount Lamborn is the highest point in Delta County. Together with nearby Landsend Peak to the southwest, it lies at the western edge of the West Elks, rising dramatically nearly 6,000 ft above the valley of the North Fork Gunnison River to the west.
The West Elk Mountains are a high mountain range in the west-central part of the U.S. state of Colorado. They lie primarily within the Gunnison National Forest, and part of the range is protected as the West Elk Wilderness. The range is primarily located in Gunnison County, with small parts in eastern Delta and Montrose counties.
The Lake Fork of the Gunnison River begins in high mountains in the western region of Colorado, United States, draining the northeastern part of the San Juan Mountains.
West Elks is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in Delta County on the Western Slope of Colorado within the North Fork Valley surrounding the towns of Cedaredge, Hotchkiss and Paonia. It was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) effective May 7, 2001 and is the latest of the two registered viticultural areas in the "Centennial State." The viticultural area takes its name from the nearby West Elk Mountains. The area is located on mesa lands with 48,405 acres (76 sq mi) expanding along the North Fork Gunnison River from the historic mining town of Bowie, through Paonia and Hotchkiss. Its borders are the West Elk Range to the east and the higher Grand Mesa to the north. To the south, Crawford and Fruitland Mesa have higher elevations and the plateau climbs until it reaches the north rim of Black Canyon of the Gunnison. To the west lies the barren Adobe Badlands which has little plant growth. State Highway 133 bisects the AVA in a north–south direction. The high-altitude vineyards are situated mostly at 5,400 to 6,400 feet (1,600–2,000 m) above sea level. The USDA plant hardiness zone is 7a.
State Highway 187 was a highway near Paonia, Colorado.
Crater Peak is the highest summit of Grand Mesa in the Rocky Mountains of North America. The prominent 11,333-foot (3,454 m) peak is located on the drainage divide separating Grand Mesa National Forest and Gunnison National Forest, 12.3 miles (19.8 km) north-northwest of the Town of Paonia in Delta County, Colorado, United States.
Needle Rock Natural Area is located at the western edge of the West Elk Mountains of Colorado. The surrounding terrain is characterized by laccolithic mountains flanked by precipitous cliffs, extensive talus aprons, forested mesas, canyons, and spacious, well-watered intermontane basins. Needle Rock is an intrusive plug of monzonite porphyry cropping out 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east-northeast of the Town of Crawford in Delta County, Colorado, United States. With an elevation of 7,797 feet (2,377 m), the towering rock spire stands 800 feet (240 m) tall above the floor of the Smith Fork of the Gunnison River valley. The massive rock feature originated in the Oligocene geological epoch when magma intruded between existing sedimentary rocks as the crown of a buried laccolith or possibly the underlying conduit of a laccolith. Subsequent erosion has exposed the prominent rock formation seen in the natural area today.
Landsend Peak is a prominent wedge-shaped mountain located in the West Elk Mountains range northeast of Crawford, Colorado. The summit of Landsend Peak has an elevation of 10,806 ft (3,294 m) rising dramatically about 4,000 ft (1,200 m) above the valley below. Together with nearby Mount Lamborn to the northeast, it delineates the western edge of the West Elk Mountains, and the two massifs top out about 1 mile (1.6 km) higher than the adjacent North Fork Gunnison River. Both peaks lie within the Gunnison National Forest near the physiographic boundary of the Rocky Mountains and the Colorado Plateau provinces. Geologically, Landsend Peak and Mount Lamborn are exposed igneous intrusions that geologists call laccoliths.
The West Elk Loop Scenic and Historic Byway is a 205-mile (330 km) National Forest Scenic Byway and Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in Delta, Garfield, Gunnison, Montrose, and Pitkin counties Colorado, USA. The byway reaches its zenith at Kebler Pass, elevation 10,007 feet (3,050 m), between Crested Butte and Paonia.
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