Things to Do in Trinidad, Colorado

One of Colorado’s newest state parks opened in October 2020 on 19,200 acres just south of town, below the 9,633-foot mesa that gives it its name. Only a small piece is open so far, but a day-use trailhead connects to more than 25 miles of hiking and biking trails. Elk, black bear and more than 174 bird species live here.

★ Good to know Use the park’s own directions from I-25 exit 11; the mailing address sends many map apps to the wrong spot.

History Colorado runs this museum, which fills a whole city block downtown. You can walk through the 1882 Bloom Mansion, the Baca House and the Santa Fe Trail Museum on your own, then wander the Baca-Bloom Heritage Gardens. Artist Arthur Roy Mitchell saved the Baca House in the 1950s and became the first curator.

★ Good to know It’s open Tuesday through Saturday with last entry an hour before closing; enter through the gate on Chestnut Street.

A few miles west of town on Highway 12, this 2,960-acre park wraps around a reservoir created by Trinidad Dam in 1978. Anglers catch rainbow and brown trout, walleye and bass, and there are 10.3 miles of trails through pinyon-juniper country. Look for roadrunners.

★ Good to know The park is a good base for the Highway of Legends, which starts on the same road.

Trinidad native Arthur Roy Mitchell painted more than 160 covers for Western pulp magazines, and this museum holds the largest collection of them. It fills a 1906 dry goods store with its original pressed-tin ceilings and horseshoe-shaped mezzanine. There’s also Spanish and Native American folk art he gathered.

★ Good to know Hours are limited to a few days a week, so check the museum’s site before you plan around it.

This is the oldest continually operating synagogue in its original location in Colorado and the mountain West. Its congregation first gathered in 1883, and the building became a National Historic Landmark in December 2023. It now hosts cultural events as well as services.

★ Good to know It isn’t a walk-in museum, so check the temple’s events page for open houses and tours.

State Highway 12 climbs from Trinidad past Trinidad Lake and through the San Isabel National Forest to La Veta. It was named a National Scenic Byway in 2021. Tiny Cokedale, a former coal camp with 127 residents, sits just off the road west of the lake.

★ Good to know Plan a loop: drive the byway to La Veta and come back on U.S. 160 and I-25.

On April 20, 1914, National Guard troops and company guards attacked a tent colony of about 1,200 striking miners and their families here. About 21 people died, mostly women and children. The United Mine Workers own the site and put up a granite monument, and it became a National Historic Landmark in 2009.

★ Good to know It’s 18 miles north of Trinidad off I-25, so pair it with a drive to Walsenburg or back from Denver.

This 110-seat community theater on West Main Street stages plays on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. Wine, beer and snacks are sold at the concession stand. It’s the easiest way to see a slice of local life on a weekend night.

★ Good to know The box office is open Tuesday through Friday afternoons and an hour before each show.