The Weld County Local Guide

Weld County is big, and most people only ever see a slice of it. Commuters know the I-25 exits. Greeley people know their side of town. Very few have driven the gravel roads out past Grover or stood under the Pawnee Buttes at sunrise. This guide is the whole picture, written so you can decide where to go next.

The shape of the county

Weld covers roughly four thousand square miles of northeastern Colorado, which makes it one of the largest counties in the state. It was one of the original seventeen counties created when the Colorado Territory was organized in 1861, and it is named for Lewis Ledyard Weld, the territory's first secretary. The northern edge runs along the Wyoming state line and touches Nebraska in the far northeast corner. To the west, Interstate 25 roughly traces the boundary with Larimer and Boulder counties, and on a clear day the Front Range, Longs Peak included, fills the western horizon.

Two rivers organize the landscape. The Cache la Poudre comes out of the mountains, passes Windsor and meets the South Platte just east of Greeley. The South Platte runs up from the Denver side past Fort Lupton and Platteville, bends east and carries on toward Nebraska. Most of the county's towns sit within a short drive of one or the other, because water is what made farming here possible in the first place.

Greeley and Evans

Greeley is the county seat and the largest city. It started in 1870 as the Union Colony, an organized farming settlement led by Nathan Meeker, the agricultural editor of Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, and it took the newspaperman's name. The colony's irrigation ditches helped set the pattern for agriculture across the region.

Today Greeley is home to the University of Northern Colorado, a walkable downtown with restaurants and taprooms, and Island Grove Regional Park, where the Greeley Stampede and the Weld County Fair take place. Evans borders Greeley to the south along the South Platte, and for most visitors the two function as one place. If you are new here, this is where the taquerias, panaderias and family kitchens are thickest on the map.

The I-25 corridor

The western edge of Weld is where most of the recent growth has happened. Frederick, Firestone and Dacono make up the area locals call the Carbon Valley, a name that goes back to the coal mines that once operated there. Farther north, Mead, Johnstown and Windsor fill in the stretch toward Fort Collins. This is where you will find newer neighborhoods, shopping centers right off the interstate and a fast-growing list of coffee shops and breakfast spots that serve the commuter crowd. Windsor's downtown and its lake give it a small-town feel even as it keeps growing.

Farm towns on U.S. 85

U.S. Highway 85 runs north and south through the middle of the county, and the towns along it still feel like farm towns. Fort Lupton, Platteville and Gilcrest sit south of Greeley in the South Platte valley. Eaton, Ault, Pierce and Nunn line up to the north on the way toward Wyoming. Sugar beets once drove the economy in many of these communities, and you can still see the grain elevators and rail lines that served them. In late summer and fall this is the heart of farm stand country, and the small-town cafes along the highway are where the steak and barbecue conversations get settled.

The eastern plains

East of Kersey the county opens up fast. Keenesburg and Hudson sit along Interstate 76 in the south, and Keenesburg is the home of The Wild Animal Sanctuary, a large refuge for rescued big cats, bears and wolves. Farther north, the Pawnee National Grassland spreads across a checkerboard of public and private land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The Pawnee Buttes, two sandstone formations rising out of the prairie, are the best known stop, and the grassland is a well-known destination for birders. Services are few and far between out here, so fill the tank and pack water before you leave the pavement.

Which part of Weld fits your day

Weather that matters

This is high plains country, and the weather moves fast. Summer afternoons can turn from clear to stormy in an hour, and hail is a real concern for cars and crops. Wind is a constant companion east of Greeley. Winter brings snow that can drift badly on the open county roads even when town streets look fine. Before any drive out to the grassland or the far corners of the county, check the town-by-town forecast and any active alerts from the National Weather Service.

However you came to Weld County, the best way to know it is to eat your way across it. Start with the directory, pick a town on the map and plan your next Saturday from there.