Western Slope
Moffat County
15 Porch Notes tied to Moffat County — the local details that change from one part of Colorado to the next.
Money and taxes (1)
Home and property (1)
Water and land (5)
Water and land
Dinosaur National Monument's Colorado side is canyons, not bones
Dinosaur National Monument straddles Colorado and Utah, but the famous fossil wall is on the Utah side — the Colorado side near the town of Dinosaur is about deep river canyons and overlooks.
Read note ->Water and land
Elkhead Reservoir offers flat-water boating near Craig
Elkhead Reservoir State Park, northeast of Craig, is a developed lake for boating and fishing, and motorized or trailered watercraft must pass an aquatic nuisance species inspection before launching.
Read note ->Water and land
Irish Canyon: a short drive through deep time on the way to Browns Park
A narrow red, green, and gray canyon off Highway 318 packs layered rock and Fremont-era petroglyphs into one easy stop before Browns Park.
Read note ->Water and land
On Moffat County acreage, a well may need an augmentation plan
The Yampa River basin is administered for water rights, so a well on a small Moffat County parcel may not let you water more than the house without an extra supply of water.
Read note ->Water and land
Yampa River State Park is a string of river access points
Yampa River State Park is not one block of land but a chain of boat launches and river sites strung along the Yampa across Moffat and Routt counties, each with its own access.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire (3)
Outdoors and wildfire
Moffat County draws hunters, but the rules change by unit
Northwest Colorado is well known for elk and other big game, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife sets the seasons, units, and license rules that change from year to year.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Rafting the Green and Yampa through Dinosaur needs a permit
Multi-day float trips on the Green and Yampa rivers inside Dinosaur National Monument require a National Park Service river permit, which is limited and usually awarded by lottery.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Sand Wash Basin is wild-horse country, and it has its own rules
West of Craig, the BLM manages the Sand Wash Basin as a wild horse area, which is public land for viewing and recreation but not a developed park.
Read note ->Cars and driving (1)
Local rules (1)
History and culture (3)
History and culture
Craig keeps David Moffat's private railcar, the Marcia
In Craig sits the Marcia, a Pullman-built private railcar named for David Moffat's daughter, a piece of the railroad history that the county is named after.
Read note ->History and culture
Moffat County is named for David Moffat, the railroad financier
The county takes its name from David Moffat, a Denver financier whose railroad pushed into northwest Colorado, and that railroad shaped where towns grew.
Read note ->History and culture
Northwest Colorado was Ute homeland, and that history deserves care
The land that became Moffat County was long the homeland of Ute people, and their removal in the late 1800s opened it to settlement — a history worth learning from official and tribal sources.
Read note ->