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The first time I came out West, I fell in love with the land. It was fall break at my university in my native Indiana, and on a whim, I jumped into a car with a couple of buddies who were driving to Colorado to do some hiking. On that trip, I took in the rippled horizon from the summit of Quandary Peak, got chased down a waterfall-dotted trail in Rocky Mountain National Park by a sudden thunderstorm, and drifted off to the sound of elk bugling outside an Estes Park cabin.
The second time I visited, I fell for the people. The wonder Colorado’s scenery had stirred in my flatlander heart compelled me to apply for an internship at this magazine. But when I flew in for the interview, it was the can-do enthusiasm I encountered in conversation after conversation that sold me on starting my career, and the next chapter of my life, here.
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Fifteen years later, I feel so lucky to put together our annual “Best of the Mountain West” package, which celebrates both the landscapes and the people that make this region such an exciting place to call home. It’s my hope that the stories here—a 150-million-year-old dinosaur trackway near Ouray, four sisters bringing tastes of Afghanistan to Boise, a new mountain-bike-optimized trail network in Prescott—encourage you to explore the breadth of experiences available to those of us fortunate enough to live here and maybe even inspire you to fulfill your own Western dream.
Adventure:
- West Gold Hill Dinosaur Trackway
- Autumn Harry
- Leslie Bahn Steen
- Wanderland Outdoors
- Gila Wilderness
- Bean Peaks Gravity Flow Trails
Culture:
- The Burning of Zozobra
- Annette McGivney
- LOGE Glacier
- Jaialdi
- Astronomy Discovery Center at Lowell Observatory
- 100 Years of Film & Television
- Tippet Rise Art Center
Eat and Drink:
West Gold Hill Dinosaur Trackway
Colorado
For decades, the Charles family traversed their dozens of acres of property in Ouray County searching for gold, their dogs often stopping to lap water that collected in potholelike depressions in a stretch of sandstone. Local kids—including a boy named Rick Trujillo, starting in the late 1950s—also wandered into the area from nearby trails and wondered about the divots. But it wasn’t until Trujillo returned to the site about 10 years ago to investigate (and, eventually, tip off a Fort Lewis College professor) that anyone understood the land’s true treasure: 134 footprints over 106 yards, left by a long-necked sauropod that made a 270-degree turn there some 150 million years ago.
This past spring, the Charles Real Estate Trust sold several parcels to the U.S. Forest Service, and the site—confirmed as the world’s longest continuous dinosaur trackway—is now publicly accessible via a challenging, steep two-mile hike up the Silvershield Trail. Visitors are asked to be respectful of limited parking at the trailhead, which is in a residential neighborhood, and leave no trace, but they’re welcome to frolic in the footprints, just as Ouray residents have been doing for generations. —JL
The Burning of Zozobra
New Mexico
Usually, a crowd shouting, “Burn him! Burn him!” would be cause for alarm, but it’s standard procedure every Labor Day weekend in Santa Fe, when a massive effigy named Zozobra—Spanish for distress and anxiety—is stuffed with papers representing things that bring locals despair (think: divorce forms, mortgages). The chanting continues until fireworks spew from Zozobra’s mouth, ignite his shredded-paper hair, and shower flames down his 50-foot-tall cloth, wood, and wire body.
For the 100th anniversary event this past August, 71,685 attendees from 24 countries gathered at Zozobra Field in Fort Marcy Park. Rooted in the traditions of Yaqui Indian communities in Arizona and Mexico, the festival dates to 1924, when a local artist built a six-foot effigy in his backyard. In 1964, he gave his blueprints to the local Kiwanis Club, and his ritual has become the group’s biggest fundraiser of the year (tickets start at $25). Festivities begin the week before the burning with an art festival as well as an event during which the city’s least-worried residents—kids—stuff the body. —Jen Murphy
Annette McGivney
Colorado
While lawyers prepared for the federal trial of Charles Barrett in Sacramento, journalist and author Annette McGivney was conducting her own investigation into the prominent California rock climber’s alleged history of violence, harassment, intimidation, and sexual abuse. In January—days before the court proceedings began—Outside magazine published her year’s worth of reporting, which included poring over court documents and police reports and interviewing victims who were not going to testify. “Before the story was out, the victims were made to feel like they were exaggerating,” McGivney, who lives in southwestern Colorado, says. “It was hugely rewarding for me to honor their stories.” (In February, Barrett was found guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact. In June, he was sentenced to life in prison for the rape of a woman in Yosemite National Park.)
Next up for McGivney: a book about cultural appropriation and homicide investigations in the wellness industry. Then, she says, “I have a dream of buying a van, traveling and hiking, and not worrying about horrible things.” —Stephanie Pearson
Autumn Harry
Nevada
Book Autumn Harry to take you fishing, and you’ll be in for a lot more than a lesson on fly-tying. Harry, 32, is the first Numu (Northern Paiute) woman fly-fishing guide on Nevada’s Kooyooe Pa’a Panunadu, or Pyramid Lake, and she prides herself on teaching clients the culture and history of her people as they cast for Lahontan cutthroat trout in the desert basin oasis 40 miles northeast of Reno. “There’s so much to gain from learning from an Indigenous person whose homelands you’re on,” says Harry, who is also Diné, or Navajo. “Paiute women have always had this really important role in caring for the fish. It’s important for me as a Native woman to carry that forward.”
When she’s not guiding, Harry works as a community organizer around water issues and paints murals: Find her latest, a celebration of Great Basin Indigenous tribes and their legacy of water and land protection, on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno. —Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan
LOGE Glacier
Montana
Updating a beloved mountain lodge like the Izaak Walton Inn is a fine line to hike. The 85-year-old hotel, which sits by the southern border of Glacier National Park, needed some TLC when lodging company LOGE (Live Outside, Go Explore) bought it in 2022. But if it changed too much, the brand risked ruining Izaak Walton’s old-school charm—and alienating generations of visitors. Happily, LOGE pulled it off.
The inn, rechristened LOGE Glacier when it reopened in September, boasts both necessary repairs (bringing electrical up to code, covering lead paint) and tasteful style upgrades. Common spaces now feature mountain-modern furniture, lodge rooms sport hammocks, the restaurant serves more veggie and gluten-free options, and mountain bike, paddleboard, and fly-fishing equipment rentals are included in the $25/night amenity fee. What hasn’t changed? The 40-room inn’s historical railroad aesthetic—Amtrak’s Empire Builder line still stops here—from locomotive memorabilia on the walls to nine train cars turned into stand-alone cabins. —EKH
Leslie Bahn Steen
Wyoming
Born and raised on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Leslie Bahn Steen never imagined she’d become a poster woman for Jackson Hole. She was on a serious classical music career track before she got hooked on the outdoors. After earning her master’s degree in fish and wildlife management at Montana State University, she moved to Jackson and began working for Trout Unlimited, a national nonprofit devoted to protecting watersheds where trout and salmon are found. Now its state director, she oversees teams that lead 20 projects aimed at conserving cold-water fisheries. Then, in 2023, Steen co-founded the Mountains of Color Film Festival to celebrate diversity in the filmmaking community.
All those endeavors attracted the attention of Visit Jackson Hole, a tourism group that recently cast the 45-year-old in its Mountains of Youth campaign, which stars a disparate group of locals and promotes recreating in the outdoors as a way to keep people of all ages young at heart. Some people stop her to say they’ve seen her on social media, Steen says, “but most people recognize me from being on the trails with my husband and son, floating or wading the river, or swimming in the lakes.” —JM
Jaialdi
Idaho
It’s been a decade since downtown Boise bustled with sword-bearing ezpata dantza performers, aka roving street musicians shaking tambourinelike panderos. But this coming July 29 through August 3, the biggest Basque festival in the United States (and, with more than 30,000 attendees, one of the largest Basque celebrations outside of the region in today’s northern Spain, where the culture originates) is back after the quinquennial event’s COVID-19 cancellation in 2020.
Known simply as Jaialdi, which translates to “big festival,” the nearly 40-year-old gathering offers a rare opportunity for Americans to experience the sacred Oñati Korpus, performed by elite Basque dancers during a Catholic Mass, and watch traditional herri kirolak competitions like stone lifting and wood chopping. Revelers can also munch on croquetas (fried balls of béchamel paste mixed with ham) and sip a kalimotxo, a drink that’s equal parts red wine and Coca-Cola.
Jaialdi is more than an opportunity for general alaitasuna, or merrymaking, however—particularly for the 15,000 to 16,000 Boise residents of Basque descent, some of whose ancestors began herding sheep in the area in the mid-1800s. “Festival season in international Basque communities is the time to get back together,” says Lael Uberuaga-Rodgers, Jaialdi’s marketing and media chair. “This is a real homecoming.” —Courtney Holden
Corner Office
New Mexico
Chefs Zak Pelaccio and Jori Jayne Emde’s ingredient obsession extends to what they drink, which is why they opened New Mexico’s first natural wine bar in Taos in 2022. Demand for natural wines, made from organically or biodynamically cultivated grapes that have been processed with minimal intervention, is estimated to have doubled in the United States over the past five years. Still, the husband-and-wife duo know the natty trend can feel esoteric. “To diffuse the intimidation, we created a casual space with loud music and great food, where unruly beards and jeans are welcome,” Pelaccio says.
Deep relationships with winemakers and importers allow them to stock a selection on par with what you’d find at natty bars in New York City, with a list of 85 to 125 bottles, priced between $42 and $2,000, that might include sips from cult producers like Austria’s Christian Tschida and France’s Domaine Ostertag. “It started as a purely selfish endeavor so we could drink the wines we love, but we’ve definitely filled a gap,” Emde says. —JM
Wanderland Outdoors
Colorado
Bobby and Angel Massie may have met online—when the former, an offensive lineman for the Arizona Cardinals at the time, slid into the then Washington, D.C., TV journalist’s DMs—but they connected on trails and in bass-fishing boats. Then, in 2016, they visited Colorado. “We fell in love with the bucolic nature,” Angel says. They got married in Vail, bought a house in Larkspur, and became avid fly-fishers—all before Bobby joined the Denver Broncos in 2021.
This past May, Bobby (now retired from the NFL) and Angel launched Wanderland Outdoors, an outfitter that leads fly-fishing, horseback riding, and meditative hiking excursions throughout the state. (For an extra $250 per adult, Bobby will come along as your chef. ) The couple’s mission is grander than providing high-end trips, though. As Black nature lovers, they had experienced the outdoor industry’s lack of diversity, which is why Wanderland made a point to hire guides who are Black, brown, white, Indigenous, and female. “We live in a world where people are different, and those different experiences enrich you,” Angel says. “The outdoor scene seems like the perfect place to bring people together.” —Spencer Campbell
Astronomy Discovery Center at Lowell Observatory
Arizona
A vacation to outer space aboard Virgin Galactic is beyond most people’s budgets, but a trip to the Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation Astronomy Discovery Center at Lowell Observatory can transport you out of this world (much more affordably, at $35 for adult admission). A decade in the making, the three-story, 40,000-square-foot facility debuted on November 16 and features interactive spaces, including a rooftop planetarium—with heated seats and a dome that opens to Flagstaff’s famed dark skies—and a theater to rival the Sphere in Las Vegas, with its 25-foot-tall, 165-degree curved LED screen. The center, parts of which are open until 10 p.m., also includes exhibit galleries. Another building houses an open-deck observatory with six high-tech telescopes.
“This is our crown jewel,” says Kevin Schindler, a historian for the 130-year-old Lowell Observatory. “There’s nothing like this in the world, and we’ve made sure it’s accessible to everyone.” —JM
Gila Wilderness
New Mexico
Although most people point to the 1964 Wilderness Act as the birth of our national wilderness system, its conceptual roots grow back 40 years prior. At a time when public land was perceived to have value only if it could be logged, grazed, or mined, Aldo Leopold, a then-unknown forest ranger in the remote wilds of southwest New Mexico, posed a radical idea—that the United States set aside significant acreage that should remain free from the works of man. His proposal gained traction, and in 1924, the U.S. Forest Service established the 560,000-acre Gila Wilderness.
Since then, the Gila, which spans territory as diverse as the Sonoran Desert and the spruce-covered, nearly 11,000-foot peaks of the Mogollon Mountains, has served as a living laboratory for everything from wildfire management to endangered species reintroduction. And now, recreationists have a new way to explore the stomping grounds of famed Chiricahua Apache leader Goyahkla (aka Geronimo): Unveiled this past summer, the Gila Centennial Trail is a 100-mile loop that traverses some of the wildest country within the world’s first legally designated wilderness area. —M. John Fayhee
100 Years of Film & Television
Utah
What would the story of a dead-shot Sundance Kid be without a vast backdrop of sagebrush desert? Or Galaxy Quest without the showdown between Tim Allen and a rock monster in Goblin Valley State Park? These cinematic heavy hitters “lean into a sense of place,” says Virginia Pearce, director of the Utah Film Commission, so much so that “Utah almost became a character.”
Filmmakers first recognized the Beehive State’s commanding presence in 1924, when silent Westerns spurred Utah’s eventual christening as Little Hollywood. In celebration of Utah’s century as America’s Film Set, follow one of the commission’s film-and-TV-inspired itineraries (available at visitutah.com). Expect to snap a selfie at Forrest Gump’s end-of-run point near Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, cannonball into Ogden’s Lorin Farr Community Pool a la Ham Porter of The Sandlot, fist-pump in front of High School Musical’s East High in Salt Lake City, or re-create another scene where a Utah background takes center stage. —CH
Tippet Rise Art Center
Montana
A 12,500-acre sheep and cattle ranch in Fishtail, Montana, isn’t where you’d expect to encounter large-scale artworks by the likes of Alexander Calder, Louise Nevelson, and Ai Weiwei. But Tippet Rise Art Center, founded by philanthropists Cathy and Peter Halstead, has been defying expectations since it opened in 2016.
Each summer, lucky visitors roam 15 miles of trails through an otherworldly dreamscape where sculpture, architecture, and classical music synergize. New this year, the world-class cultural institution’s offerings include concerts in the Geode, a striking Arup-designed venue composed of four triangular acoustical shelters. Clustered in a natural bowl setting, the structures’ Douglas fir–clad interiors were treated with a traditional Japanese burn-and-brush technique that scatters high-frequency sound waves. “With the Geode, we sought to find a way to provide the resonance of an indoor concert hall while surrounded by a panorama of meadows and mountains,” Cathy says.
Before you go, make sure the remote locale is expecting you: Concert tickets, just $10, are available via a drawing that begins in mid-March; limited slots for free hiking and biking reservations and van tours ($10) open in early April. —Laura Beausire
Bean Peaks Gravity Flow Trails
Arizona
If you’ve spent any time on trails in the West, you’ve probably seen hikers and mountain bikers exchange dirty looks (and may have even given some side-eye yourself). But it doesn’t have to be like that—at least, according to the groups that came together to develop the Bean Peaks Gravity Flow Trails in Prescott National Forest. Initially, plans for the $1.5 million bike-optimized trails were met with ire from hikers who just heard the word “bike.” But Robert Dal Santo, vice president of the Prescott Mountain Bike Alliance, and his team used town hall meetings and social media to explain how the trails would also feature hiker-friendly portions, and soon the community embraced the idea. “Everyone shares the vision of making Prescott a recreational nirvana,” Dal Santo says.
A four-year endeavor, the 9.2-mile network of rollers, berms, and technical rock features has been thrilling riders since it opened on May 31. A three-mile uphill trail is open to hikers, while seven downhill-only trails were designed to accommodate adaptive bikes and are graded to challenge all experience levels. “If you’re a good rider, you don’t even need to touch your brakes,” Dal Santo says. “You can feel some g-force as the bike carves into a turn. It’s exhilarating.” Another 6.9 miles of trails are slated for completion this summer, and the final five miles should be finished by 2026. —JM
Johnny Curiel
Colorado
Opening his first solo restaurant, navigating a lawsuit, earning a Michelin star, and launching two more eateries: It’s been a heck of a year for Johnny Curiel, the chef/owner of Alma Fonda Fina, a spunky LoHi spot dedicated to leveled-up fare from his native Mexico. Just three months after opening in December 2023, he and his wife and business partner, Kasie Curiel, were hit with a lawsuit from her former employer alleging a violation of a noncompete. “I thought this was going to be the shortest run of any restaurant,” he says.
A month later, they resolved the suit, but instead of exhaling, Curiel opened a sister restaurant in Boulder. Masa-focused Cozobi Fonda Fina is every bit as good as Alma Fonda Fina, with double the seats and its own menu (which includes the original’s now-iconic sweet potato small plate). Curiel closed out the year by debuting Mezcaleria Alma, a cocktail bar with sips like a huitlacoche martini and Mexico City–inspired bites, next-door to Alma Fonda Fina and, presumably, by taking a nap. —Allyson Reedy
Sunshine Spice Bakery & Cafe
Idaho
Boise’s designation as a certified Welcoming City in 2019—the third municipality in the country to earn the status from nonprofit Welcome America—has made it a safe haven for thousands of immigrants and refugees. For many of them, like the Shams sisters, who escaped the oppression of the Taliban in Afghanistan, food is their best remaining connection to home. In 2019, the four siblings—Bahar, Homeyra, Narges, and Khatera (pictured, from left)—opened Sunshine Spice Bakery & Cafe, the city’s first Afghan eatery.
Sunshine’s Middle Eastern–inspired dishes, like flaky pistachio baklava and bolani, an Afghani flatbread filled with potatoes and spice, earned a James Beard Foundation Award nomination in 2022. Then, in 2023, the bakery garnered more attention when Guy Fieri showcased its addictive savory beef dumplings and a traditional soup on his popular Food Network show. All that attention led the sisters to open a second location downtown this past summer. Although patrons rave about the strong Turkish coffee, the Shams are most proud of their saffron green tea. “Afghan women don’t have many options to work, other than to harvest saffron,” Homeyra says. “We import our saffron directly from Afghanistan and donate a portion of sales to help these women.” —JM
