Stories
Reading NoCo
City guides, seasonal roundups, and dispatches from the people and places that make Northern Colorado what it is.
Photo by Taylor Mikkelsen on Unsplash
Roundup
What Actually Happens During the Elk Rut, and How to Watch It Without Being a Problem
Every fall thousands of people drive up to Estes Park to watch elk, and a lot of them get it wrong the same way. Here is the real timing, the real distance rules, and where the animals actually are.
September 8, 2026
Photo by Alex Moliski on Unsplash
Roundup · August 24, 2026
Fall in Northern Colorado: What Actually Happens Between September and November
Newcomers usually brace for winter and miss the best stretch of the year first. Here's how fall actually unfolds across Northern Colorado, from the high country color to the week everything moves indoors.
Photo by Frankie Lopez on Unsplash
Roundup · August 17, 2026
The Ditch, the Tunnel, and the Reservoir That Used to Be a Town
Northern Colorado gets about fifteen inches of rain a year and grows crops anyway. A tunnel under Rocky Mountain National Park is a big part of why.
Photo by Bohdan Stocek on Unsplash
Roundup · August 10, 2026
How Two Dry Towns Became Colorado's Beer Country
Fort Collins banned alcohol for 73 years and Greeley was founded dry on purpose. Here is how both towns turned into two of the state's best beer towns anyway.
Photo by Lily Miller on Unsplash
City Guide · August 5, 2026
A First-Timer's Guide to Old Town Fort Collins
Old Town is not a restored theme street. It is the surviving half of a town that got laid out twice, fourteen years apart, by people who disagreed about which way north was. Once you can see that, you cannot stop seeing it.
