GREAT ESCAPES
BOULDER
Striking
Gold
It’s been 160 years
since gold miners first
made camp in what’s
now Boulder, Colorado,
and the prospectors
keep coming. These
days they’re lured
by the 21st-century
mother lode: a vibrant
university town sur-
rounded by thousands
of acres of public land
in the foothills of the
Rocky Mountains.
West of the brick-
paved Pearl Street
pedestrian mall, the
tile-and-sandstone
University of Colorado
buildings, and tree-
lined neighborhoods
of bungalows rise the
Flatirons. These mas-
sive sedimentary slabs
tilt skyward, beckoning
hikers, rock climbers,
and daydreamers.
The outdoor draw
of this city of about
108,000—which has
near-record densities
of organic food pro-
ducers, breweries, and
Olympians—extends
to runners, skiers,
mountain bikers, road
cyclists, and others
seeking immersion in
the open space that’s
nearly three times the
size of the developed
land. With a semiarid
(read: mostly sunny)
climate, Boulder has
no off-season, just an
occasional need to
layer up before head-
ing out. —John BrileyNATGEOTRAVEL.COM