The towns that my wife and I encountered along her ride of the Great Divide from Rawlins WY to Salida CO ranged from an isolated Encampment village to over-run ski towns like Steamboat Springs and Silverthorne, to functional smalls like Kremmling, and hip, chill Salida.
Encampment from the highway heading into the town from the West. It has a few businesses, including a great restaurant called Great Divide.
Steamboat Springs. Very busy. But not an over-run tourism hellscape with outlet malls, condos, hotels, cars, people like Silverthorne. (The latter inspired not a single photo.)
Kremmling. Not a lot of tourists. They do river rafting tours from Kremmling. Some marvelous character. About 25 minutes from the start of the Colorado River. That river, and another, Muddy Creek, run by the town. Not a lot of money in the town. Very blue color, unlike the ski towns, but more welcoming I thought.
And finally, lovely, livable, hip, chill Salida. I could live there. Lots of tourism–river rafting, kayaking, and fishing, and mountain and gravel biking. But not over run or over built.
The town and small city architecture reminded me of home in Michigan; but the landscape was pure Colorado.
No Ordinary Light 