Check Out the Road of Gnomes in Northern Colorado

Oh, no, you read that right. Just north of Fort Collins near Red Feather Lakes is 'a collection of fading fantasy tchotchkes' lining a dirt road, according to Atlas Obscura. 

How have I not heard of this before? Escaping into the woods of Red Feather is enchanting enough as it is; add some creatures and kitsch? All around mystical. I may just move there.

Supposedly, 'Gnome Road' (also 'Elf Lane') was created by locals, and those who have passed through that span of forest have added to it over time.

The quarter mile stretch of road between Lake Hiawatha and Lake Apache holds a number of semi-hidden creatures that seem as though they may have simply been left on the wayside by a careless child...

-Atlas Obscura

So at this point everyone is probably like, 'Yeah, lawn gnomes, cool story, Shelby. My crazy neighbor has like, 20 in her yard and they're tacky.'

I'm going to be that neighbor some day (not really), but here's why. The fact that this exists is pretty unique, but it's brought back some fond memories for me.

When I was a really young, I briefly lived in Casper, Wyoming before moving to Denver, and most of my memories of that time are a little fuzzy. For whatever reason I, fairly lucidly, remember my family spending a lot of time hiking Casper Mountain, hearing about the witches and forest folklore at Crimson Dawn, and learning about the local stories passed down through the kids who lived there before me. It all made living near the mountains seem kind of magical.

Obviously, this fascinated me as a kid because twenty years later, I can write about it, which might explain why this Northern Colorado discovery feels a little nostalgic to me, and why I (supposedly) 'dress like a witch.'

That, and I love a good gnome story. Gnomesayin'? (I felt like if I didn't say that, it would be a missed opportunity.)