Who knows only his own generation.

In all its 21st Century glory, Boulder, Colorado has achieved a pinnacle of success in American life. Scarcely a week goes by there isn't a feature story in Forbes or Fortune or some other lifestyle magazine, singing the praises of this small city at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.

Those of us fortunate to be a part of Boulder know that the community is far wider than the incorporated city limits. We all live in, play in and draw nourishment from the entire terrain of the Boulder landscape--from Denver to Rocky Mountain National Park and beyond.

We live in times often in denial of history, arguably moreso in a community like the magnet that is Boulder. As home to a major university and world-class science labs, mecca for elite athletes and hub of spiritual activity, it draws the best and the brightest--but not necessarily as permanent residents.

In the dazzle of busyness it engenders, the city takes on an iconic presence, confident, forceful, unashamed to flaunt its successes or its excesses. It's more than easy to forget that Boulder is what it is for very human, if not simple, reasons.

Boulder did not spring forth whole from the bowels of the cosmos. It is an earthly entity, with roots, its share of growth pains, its own kind of goofiness--check the local response--bringing it to its present esteemed position.

The font of its economic and spiritual lifeblood from its earliest years onward has been the mountain area immediately to its west.

The Switzerland Trail of America is truly and literally the connecting link between Boulder as we know it today, and its heritage in this mountain community.

The Mountain Community.

This is area of the mountain community west of Boulder.

Major road connections with Boulder are in yellow. A great percentage of the land area as shown in the photograph is owned and managed by the US Forest Service, by Boulder County, or by the City of Boulder, with pockets of residential and town development.

Boulder is situated at 5430 feet above sea level.
Nine miles east of the Continental Divide, Nederland is at elevation 8230, Ward at 9450.


Who knows only his own generation remains always a child.
Cicero