Visit Wet Mountain Valley

10/02/2026

Within a short scenic drive from the front range, spend a cozy fall weekend in Westcliffe! 🍂 We have several fun events coming up in October, from a Harvest Festival and Art Festival to the annual Halloween Coroner’s Ball.

Whether you want spooky season 🎃 or cozy fall vibes 🍁, we have a little something for everyone. And while you’re here, enjoy some delicious homemade fall treats at our locally-owned cafes, coffee shops, and bakeries. 🥧☕️🍜

This Weekend:
▪️Sloppy Joe Tailgate for Homecoming Weekend, hosted by Custer County Cattlewomen (Oct 2)
🔸Finding Joy in Food Again talk at Amelioration Health (Oct 2)
▪️Live Music at the Silver Dome Saloon (Oct 2)
🔸Practical Magic 2 showing at the Historic Jones Theater (Oct 2-4)
▪️The Grape Creek Arts Festival at Westcliffe’s Bluff Park (Oct 3)
🔸Sangre Art Guild reception and live music at the 3rd Street Gallery (Oct 3)
▪️Live Music at the newly reopened The Lodge at San Isabel: (Oct 3)

In the Coming Weeks:
🔸Bear Wise Presentation by Colorado Parks and Wildlife at West Custer County Library (Oct 6)
▪️Harvest Festival at Koscove Ranch (Oct 7 & 10)
🔸Live Music & Karaoke at The Lodge at San Isabel (Oct 10, 17, 23, 30, 31)
▪️Movies & Plays at the Historic Jones Theater (Oct 9-11, 16-18, 30-31)
🔸The Matriarch Effect book signing and talk at 3rd Street Gallery (Oct 11)
▪️Paint and Sip at A Painted View Ranch (Oct 24)
🔸The Halloween Coroner’s Ball at Tony Mountain Pizza (Oct 24)
▪️Halloween Plant Bingo at Three Peaks Ranch (Oct 30)
🔸Annual Halloween Harvest Festival (Oct 31)

Check out these links to find out more about:
▫️These and other upcoming events: https://tinyurl.com/3hhxd4jw
▫️Our Cafes, bakeries, and coffee shops: https://tinyurl.com/sxmvbbz6
▫️Local lodging with discounted fall rates: https://tinyurl.com/4ftdnkur

We’re close to the Front Range but miles from ordinary... ✨🏔️🍂

10/01/2026

Have you spotted our new town sign?? 👀 The Custer County Tourism Board worked closely with Stuart Welding & Fabrication to create this iron-and-steel beauty. A huge THANK YOU to Stuart Welding for the gorgeous sign! 💜

One of the most common things we hear from folks passing through Westcliffe and Silver Cliff—on their way to another mountain destination—is that they didn’t realize we have local lodging, restaurants, cafes, shops, and the like. They would have booked a stay and spent more money here if they’d known. This sign will hopefully help change that and bring much-needed support to our community, especially in the quieter winter season. ✨🏔️

If visitors are looking for posh resort-town vibes, ski-town shenanigans, or fancy gastro-pubs, we ain’t it. 😝🚫

But if you want to experience a real western community—steeped in a living legacy of mining ⛏️ and ranching 🐄, rural values, and small-town charm—stop in and say hello. 👋🤠

09/29/2026

Escape the leaf-peeping crowds with a short drive to come to Westcliffe! 🤎💛🧡

Fall is in full swing in the Wet Mountain Valley. We have golden leaves 🍂, snow-capped mountains 🏔️, cozy cafes & coffee shops ☕️, and comfy affordable lodgings. 🌙

🔸 Enjoy hiking? You can easily reach gorgeous aspen groves on foot on several trails throughout the Sangre de Cristo range, all accessible from Westcliffe.

🔸 Prefer driving? Highway 96 (aka “Hardscrabble”), which brings you into Westcliffe, is lined with beautiful aspen groves and makes for a lovely scenic mountain drive.

Whether you prefer hiking, scenic drives, or 4-wheeling adventures, Westcliffe is your basecamp for fall aspen viewing. 🍁

Cafes: https://tinyurl.com/sxmvbbz6
Lodging: https://tinyurl.com/4ftdnkur
Everything Else: https://tinyurl.com/5dt8eh6s

Uncrowded. Undiscovered. Unforgettable. Visit Westcliffe today! ✨🏔️🍂

09/26/2026

Our night skies are magical! ✨ If you’d like to experience them for yourself, we have many locally-owned lodging options available.

From cozy B&Bs and cute country inns to modern hotels and vintage motels, we have options for every taste and budget. Many have discounted fall and winter rates too! ⛰️

👉🏻 Check out all our lodging options here: https://tinyurl.com/4ftdnkur

Come for the mountains and stay for the stars! ✨🏔️

Most Dark Sky designations go to remote parks, but the twin towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff, Colorado did something different. In March 2015, they became the first International Dark Sky Community in the entire state, an honor that has nothing to do with wilderness and everything to do with two small towns choosing to protect their night sky on purpose.

A Dark Sky Community designation is different from a Dark Sky Park. It is awarded to towns that adopt genuinely strict outdoor lighting ordinances, commit to dark sky education, and get real buy in from residents who actually care about keeping their night skies dark. Westcliffe and Silver Cliff earned theirs through exactly that kind of community wide effort, not a natural landscape that was simply already remote and untouched.

The payoff is real. Sitting in the Wet Mountain Valley with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains as a backdrop, these towns offer stargazing that rivals any national park, minus the crowds, and it exists because ordinary residents decided their night sky was worth protecting before it was too late.

Would your own town ever be willing to change its streetlights just to bring the stars back?

09/25/2026

After the Aspen Acres fire, the Wetmore Volunteer Fire Department needs your help! 🚨 This small but mighty, all-volunteer fire department saved the town of Wetmore and played a major role in preventing the fire from crossing Hwy 96. They are 100% donation- and grant-funded (they receive no tax money), and they used most of their resources fighting the Aspen Acres fire. Now they need our help.

Join us for a family-friendly fundraiser this SATURDAY to support and give thanks to the heroic Wetmore Volunteer Fire Department.👩‍🚒

There will be live music, BBQ meal and drinks, live and silent auction, bounce house, face painting, and special commemorative items like T-shirts.

▪️When: This Saturday, September 26th
🔸Time: 3pm-8pm
▪️Where: The Wetmore Community Center, located at the junction of Hwy 67 and Hwy 96 in Wetmore.

This event aims to raise $25,000. Every dollar raised goes directly to the Wetmore Volunteer Fire Department.

If you’d like to mail a donation check, the address is:
Wetmore Volunteer Fire Department
PO Box 67
Wetmore, CO 81253

Please join us! And spread the word. 🧡

09/23/2026

Leaf Check! 🍂 Skip the crowds and traffic jams, and head to an area of the Rocky Mountains few people know about.

It’s almost peak leaf-peeping time in Westcliffe and the Wet Mountain Valley! ⛰️

📍 We’re only 60 minutes from Pueblo, 90 from Colorado Springs, and 2.5 hours from Denver.

Uncrowded. Undiscovered. Unforgettable. ✨

Visit Westcliffe today: https://tinyurl.com/5dt8eh6s

09/21/2026

Happy Monday! 🌈🏔️ Today’s Mountain Moment is a rainbow that appeared over the Sangres during an early morning rainstorm. Westcliffe truly is magical. ✨

Hope you all have a wonderful week! 💜

09/18/2026

Once a year our community gathers on Main Street, and we have dinner, together. 💜

Young and old, rancher and hippie, Republican and Democrat, Amish and veteran… it doesn’t matter who you are or where you came from; everyone is welcome. 🫶🏻

Our Valley Strong dinner has been a tradition for over a decade, and last night’s gathering was just as memorable and fun as the first! (Even a little rain couldn’t dampen our spirits!)

It’s one of the many things that makes Westcliffe and the Wet Mountain Valley so special.

✨🏔️

[Thank you to the amazing photographer Dena Smith Woods for letting us share her photos from last night!]