Red Feather Lakes, CO

Red Feather Lakes sits in the Rocky Mountains northwest of Fort Collins, surrounded by Roosevelt National Forest and a cluster of mountain lakes. Before it became a recreation community, the area supported ranching, timber work, and hard high-country settlement. The national forest was established in 1902, and land development during the 1920s laid out lake neighborhoods that gave the place its present shape. The post office, lakes, and forest roads became the basic framework for a community spread across a large landscape.

ATTRJeffrey Beall / CC BY-SA 4.0

Today, fishing, hiking, boating, horseback riding, snow travel, and seasonal cabins share space with year-round homes. Local general stores, restaurants, a hardware store, the post office, fire department, library, and community organizations handle the practical side of mountain life. The Red Feather Lakes Community Library began in 1969 after residents organized for a service the county bookmobile could not reach easily. Red Feather Lakes is part resort, part ranch-country outpost, and part volunteer-built community. Its daily rhythm depends on weather, road conditions, forest management, and the people who keep a high-elevation place supplied through every season.