Colorado’s outdoor playgrounds attract visitors from across the globe. Every season serves up stellar recreation.

From winter skiing to spring drives to summer camping and autumn hunting, Colorado has plenty to offer. Our national parks, though, not so much, according to Travel Lemming.

The travel guide evaluated our nation’s parks based on seven factors: affordability, accessibility, biodiversity, crowds, reviews, jobs and weather. Unfortunately, Colorado’s national parks struggled in four key areas.

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What’s wrong with Colorado’s national parks?

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Colorado’s national parks — Rocky Mountain National Park, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Mesa Verde National Park and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park — have four problem areas.

  1. Crowding. The state’s popular parks, including Rocky Mountain National Park, which ranks No. 33 nationally, face significant overcrowding, which detracts from our visitors’ Colorado experience.
  2. Harsh weather. Interestingly, even in sunny Colorado, where we brag that we have as much sunshine as Florida, the weather was noted as negative. What’s so bad? Comfort and accessibility. (Consider that No. 1 here is in Hawaii.)
  3. Biodiversity. Other parks ranked low in biodiversity, hurting the overall scores for Black Canyon (No. 50) and Great Sand Dunes (No. 48). Never mind that that is what makes Great Sand Dunes the standout park that it is.
  4. Cost. High fees also caused parks like Mesa Verde (No. 52) to receive low marks.

None of our national park gems rated in the top half of the nation’s 63. Unfortunately, Colorado is the only state with multiple national parks that failed to make the top half.

Perhaps our parks are over-loved, but their accessibility makes them awesome backyards for Coloradans to enjoy year-round, no matter the national rankings.

The Top 4 National Parks in Colorado

The state of Colorado is home to four National Parks. They include Rocky Mountain National Park, the Great Sand Dunes National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. If you live in western Colorado then you also get to adopt the two National Parks close by in Utah. Scroll on to learn about all six in the gallery below.

Gallery Credit: Wes Adams

LOOK: Colorado + Utah Parks Among Top 10 Most Dangerous National Parks

Check out the most dangerous National Parks located in Colorado and Utah. Find out the number of fatalities that have occurred in each park, and see which ones made the top 10. Have you been to any of these dangerous National Parks? Tell us about your experience with the chat feature on our station app.

Gallery Credit: Wes Adams

MORE: See Colorado's Beautiful State Parks

There are 42 State Parks open to the public in Colorado with 1 in development. We also include the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area as an unofficial State Park. Scroll through the photos to learn more about each one of these popular destinations.

Gallery Credit: Wes Adams

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