The Anasazi people lived in this region from about 1000 B.C. to 1200 A.D. Near the end of their run, the Anasazis’ population tripled, and then it tripled again. Next they pretty much disappeared without a trace—although a few of the rare traces indicate they were quite violent and perhaps even cannibalistic during their flight.
Some say they overextended the food supply as their population peaked before a major drought. Others believe they were absorbed into nearby Navajo and Ute tribes. Still others point to the Anasazi’s vanishing act as proof positive that we are destined to repeat history out here in the arid Southwest.
This booming chunk of Colorado has more ties to the mythical Southwest, extending from West Texas to Southern California, than it does with the so-called Rocky Mountain West. A boom-and-bust railroad town oozing with 1880s charm, Durango is the centerpiece city, and the population of its home county, La Plata, inflated by about 25 percent in the 1990s. It’s easy to see why people move from all over to reinvent themselves in this far-flung corner: It’s drool-inducing-ly beautiful, full of red rocks and green mesas, and has a laid-back vibe that puts even Boulder to shame.
The Southwest motif might trump all comers down here, but there is still plenty in the way of Rocky Mountain recreation: skiing at resorts at Telluride and Durango Mountain—the latter the bland re-branding of the formerly wonderfully blasphemous Purgatory—and hiking and biking on the peaks and in the canyons.
And while it remains relatively sparse in terms of population down here, eco-minded doomsayers point back to the Anasazi, and say, ‘Just wait ‘til that next thousand-year drought. Then you’ll have no choice but to abandon this little chunk of gnarled wonderland for another tribe.’ Just cross your fingers cannibalism won’t rear its ugly head again if the fast-food restaurants shut down.
STATS & FACTS
Rugged San Juan County is the only county in the entire United States without any agriculture.
Thanks to renegade genius Nikola Tesla, Telluride had electricity before any other city in the world, even Paris, the so-called “City of Lights.”
Durango is said to have more bars per capita than any other city in Colorado. As of this writing, the unscientific estimate was one bar per 714 people, compared to Denver’s one bar per 1,858 people.
Since the 1970s, Telluride residents have swapped old household goods at the Freebox, a collection of wooden bins on North Pine Street where you might find a bottle of booze, last season’s fashions, or old skis on a given day.
SEE & HEAR
Read: Anything by Louis L’Amour (who wrote many of his books at Durango’s Strater Hotel, room 222)
Listen: If you’re around for the summer solstice, the annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
Watch: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and National Lampoon’s Family Vacation
TO-DO CHECKLIST
Discover this wondrous place
Move here
Move away
Some say they overextended the food supply as their population peaked before a major drought. Others believe they were absorbed into nearby Navajo and Ute tribes. Still others point to the Anasazi’s vanishing act as proof positive that we are destined to repeat history out here in the arid Southwest.
This booming chunk of Colorado has more ties to the mythical Southwest, extending from West Texas to Southern California, than it does with the so-called Rocky Mountain West. A boom-and-bust railroad town oozing with 1880s charm, Durango is the centerpiece city, and the population of its home county, La Plata, inflated by about 25 percent in the 1990s. It’s easy to see why people move from all over to reinvent themselves in this far-flung corner: It’s drool-inducing-ly beautiful, full of red rocks and green mesas, and has a laid-back vibe that puts even Boulder to shame.
The Southwest motif might trump all comers down here, but there is still plenty in the way of Rocky Mountain recreation: skiing at resorts at Telluride and Durango Mountain—the latter the bland re-branding of the formerly wonderfully blasphemous Purgatory—and hiking and biking on the peaks and in the canyons.
And while it remains relatively sparse in terms of population down here, eco-minded doomsayers point back to the Anasazi, and say, ‘Just wait ‘til that next thousand-year drought. Then you’ll have no choice but to abandon this little chunk of gnarled wonderland for another tribe.’ Just cross your fingers cannibalism won’t rear its ugly head again if the fast-food restaurants shut down.
STATS & FACTS
Rugged San Juan County is the only county in the entire United States without any agriculture.
Thanks to renegade genius Nikola Tesla, Telluride had electricity before any other city in the world, even Paris, the so-called “City of Lights.”
Durango is said to have more bars per capita than any other city in Colorado. As of this writing, the unscientific estimate was one bar per 714 people, compared to Denver’s one bar per 1,858 people.
Since the 1970s, Telluride residents have swapped old household goods at the Freebox, a collection of wooden bins on North Pine Street where you might find a bottle of booze, last season’s fashions, or old skis on a given day.
SEE & HEAR
Read: Anything by Louis L’Amour (who wrote many of his books at Durango’s Strater Hotel, room 222)
Listen: If you’re around for the summer solstice, the annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
Watch: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and National Lampoon’s Family Vacation
TO-DO CHECKLIST
Discover this wondrous place
Move here
Move away