Front Range
Jefferson County
21 Porch Notes tied to Jefferson County — the local details that change from one part of Colorado to the next.
Places in this county
Money and taxes (1)
Home and property (1)
Water and land (1)
Outdoors and wildfire (7)
Outdoors and wildfire
Elk and bighorn sheep share the Jeffco foothills with people
Elk and bighorn sheep live in Jefferson County's foothills and canyons, and the rule for watching either one is to keep your distance and never feed them.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Golden Gate Canyon State Park sits in the hills northwest of Golden
Golden Gate Canyon State Park, northwest of Golden, offers camping, cabins, fishing ponds, and trails, and a state-park pass or day pass is required to enter.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
In the Jeffco foothills, bears follow the food you leave out
Black bears are part of life in Jefferson County's foothills, and most conflicts trace back to trash, bird feeders, and pet food, so securing attractants matters.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Jeffco's open space parks come with their own rules
Jefferson County runs a large county-owned parks and open space system, with rules and seasonal closures that differ from state or national lands nearby.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Some Jeffco trails switch who can use them by the calendar date
Apex Park alternates bike-only and hiker/horse days by even or odd date, while Mount Galbraith is hiker-only, so check the trail-use rule before you go.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
The Clear Creek Trail is slowly opening through the canyon
Jeffco's Clear Creek Trail, once called Peaks to Plains, is a paved path being built in segments up Clear Creek Canyon to connect Golden with the high country.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Watch Yellowstone-descended bison from the I-70 overlook at Genesee
Genesee Park keeps a small bison herd descended from Yellowstone stock, viewable free from overlooks just off I-70 west of Denver.
Read note ->Cars and driving (1)
Local rules (3)
Local rules
In Jeffco, your address may not tell you who makes the rules
A Jefferson County property can fall under a city like Lakewood or Arvada, or under unincorporated county rules, and the two are governed differently.
Read note ->Local rules
One school district and one library district cover most of Jeffco
Most of Jefferson County is served by a single county-wide public school district and a single county-wide public library system, which is unusual and simplifies one part of moving here.
Read note ->Local rules
Why Denver owns parks inside Jefferson County
Several well-known foothills parks near Golden and Morrison are part of the Denver Mountain Parks system, owned by the City and County of Denver even though they sit inside Jefferson County.
Read note ->History and culture (7)
History and culture
Colorado's narrow-gauge railroad history lives in Golden
The Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden preserves locomotives and cars from the state's narrow-gauge lines, on a site near Clear Creek between the Table Mountains.
Read note ->History and culture
Dinosaur Ridge: Walking a Tilted Slab of Deep Time Near Morrison
A walkable ridge near Morrison where the tilted Dakota Hogback lays Jurassic bones and Cretaceous footprints out at eye level.
Read note ->History and culture
Golden grew as a supply town, not a mining camp
Golden was founded during the 1859 gold rush as a supply and transportation hub for miners heading into the mountains, and it took its name from early settler Tom Golden, not from gold itself.
Read note ->History and culture
Red Rocks was hand-built by Depression-era work crews
The amphitheatre at Red Rocks near Morrison was carved out and built largely by Civilian Conservation Corps crews in the 1930s, which is why it is a designated National Historic Landmark, not just a concert venue.
Read note ->History and culture
The free Golden museum with a moon rock and a room of glowing stone
On the Colorado School of Mines campus, a free earth-science museum holds an Apollo 17 moon rock, a cave of glowing minerals, and tens of thousands of specimens that explain why Golden became a mining town.
Read note ->History and culture
The long red ridge along the foothills is the Dakota Hogback
The steep, tilted ridge that runs north-south at the edge of the foothills is the Dakota Hogback, and creeks cut narrow gaps through it where roads now pass.
Read note ->History and culture
Why Coors has brewed in Golden since the 1870s
The Coors brewery sits in Golden because German immigrant Adolph Coors wanted clean mountain water from Clear Creek, and the plant has stayed on that original site ever since.
Read note ->