Denver, Colorado ? the Mile High City! Located at the base of the spectacular Rocky Mountains and blessed with 300 days of sunshine a year, this booming, young city offers a vibrant downtown ? a trendy pedestrian area filled with outdoor cafes, shops, art galleries, the nation?s second largest performing arts center and three new art museums.
Denver is near the mountains, not in them. The Mile High City is located on high rolling plains, 12 miles east of the “foothills,” a series of gentle mountains that climb to 11,000 feet. Just beyond is the “Front Range of the Rocky Mountains,” a series of formidable snowcapped peaks that rise to 14,000 feet.
Denver might not be in the mountains, but the mountains still dominate the city. The picturesque mountain panorama from Denver is 140 miles long. There are 200 visible named peaks including 32 that soar to 13,000 feet and above.
By an amazing stroke of good luck, the 13th step on the west side of the Colorado State Capitol Building is exactly 5,280 feet above sea level – one mile high. In Denver’s rarified air, golf balls go 10 percent farther. So do cocktails. Alcoholic drinks pack more of a punch than at sea level.
The Mile High City is also extremely dry, so it is a good idea to drink more water than usual. With less water vapor in the air at this altitude, the sky really is bluer in Colorado.
The mountainous area of Colorado is six times the size of Switzerland, containing 9,600 miles (15,449 km) of fishing streams, 2,850 lakes, and more than 1,000 peaks two miles (3,218 km) high.
The road to the top of the 14,260-foot (4,346 km) peak of Mount Evans is the highest paved road in North America and is maintained and operated by Denver City Parks Department.
In 1893, while on top of nearby Pikes Peak, Katharine Lee Bates was inspired to write the words to “America the Beautiful.”
Central City, located about 45 minutes west of Denver, is known as the “Richest Square Mile on Earth” due to the half billion dollars of gold that was mined there.
The Pikes Peak Railway (515 Ruxton Ave., Manitou Springs), located about an hour and a half south of Denver, is the highest cog railway in the world, traveling 8.9 miles from 6,571 feet to the summit at 14,110 feet.
The Colorado Trail is a 500-mile-long hiking trail, stretching from Durango to Denver, and crosses eight mountain ranges, seven national forests, six wilderness areas, and five river systems.
