Wetmore, Colorado

Wetmore is a beautiful little town on the edge of the Wet Mountains. Frontier Pathways Scenic Byway comes west out of Pueblo along State Highway 96 and goes right through town and on up into the Wet Mountains. That creek flowing through town is Hardscrabble Creek, most famous as the site of a failed community back in the 1840's. That's how Hardscrabble got its' name: according the George Simpson, this was because of the "hard scrabbling to get in a crop" in the gravelly soil. In 1846, a dry year had most of Hardscrabble's residents packing. When John C. Fremont came through in 1848 he found the settlement at Hardscrabble almost completely deserted (this was only 4 years after the settlement was started). But looking at Wetmore, you can see why they tried.

Whatever the folks are doing now, they've done well in a beautiful place. This is some of the finest grass in Colorado and Wetmore has become something of an equestrian paradise because of it.