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National Historic Site · Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site

Best primary window for Bent's Old Fort: July, with August and September as strong shoulder months.

In the 1840s the Arkansas River was the border between territory claimed by the United States and Mexico. Located along the river, Bent's Fort was an adobe trading post on the Santa Fe Trail, where traders, trappers, travelers, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes came together in peaceful terms for trade. Today, a reconstructed fort allows visitors to explore the front line of Westward Expansion.

This page identifies Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site from the checked-in NPS snapshot and the dated source cards on the page.

TI
Targeted Impressions Data TeamData Science & Intelligence
materializedData snapshot: October 27, 20264 source cards

Answer Brief

Answer-first planning signal

Best current use
Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site is listed as a National Historic Site in the checked-in NPS identity snapshot.
Current signal
Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site is listed as a National Historic Site in CO in the checked-in NPS identity snapshot. Official NPS page: https://www.nps.gov/beol/index.htm. Data snapshot: October 27, 2026.
Visitor takeaway
Hours, access, and visitor guidance for Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site are on the official NPS page at https://www.nps.gov/beol/index.htm.
What it sounds like
Bent's Old Fort audio on this page is a labeled modeled cue, not a field recording.

Summary at a glance

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site is listed as a National Historic Site in the checked-in NPS identity snapshot. 4 source cards on this page. Data snapshot: October 27, 2026.

Designation
National Historic Site
Data snapshot
October 27, 2026
4 source cards
Official NPS
BEOL
Region
rocky mountain
Core Experiences
architecture-and-buildingarcheologycolonization-and-settlementcommercetradeArts and CultureCraft DemonstrationsCultural DemonstrationsBikingRoad Biking

Month-by-month

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site is a National Historic Site. Hours, access, and visitor guidance are on the official NPS page at https://www.nps.gov/beol/index.htm.

Official page

The NPS page for Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site: https://www.nps.gov/beol/index.htm. Data snapshot: October 27, 2026.

Source cards

4 source cards on this page. Data snapshot: October 27, 2026.

Designation

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site is listed as a National Historic Site in CO.

Getting there

Official access details for Bent's Old Fort are on the NPS page.

The park is accessed via U.S. Highway 50 and Highway 194. From La Junta, Colorado on U.S. Highway 50, take Colorado Highway 109 north 1 mile to Colorado Highway 194, then east on Colorado Highway 194 six miles to the fort. From Las Animas, Colorado, on U.S. Highway 50, take Colorado Highway 194 west 13 miles. Set your GPS to 35110 State Highway 194 E., La Junta, CO.

Place instrument

Clock, compare, and listen

Compare places

Season and now

Twelve-month planning is modeled from the published seasonal profile. The current hand stays unavailable until sourced alerts, hours, events, roads, and weather are fresh.

Current hand
Not available

Three listening lanes

Official NPS audio: Not provided for this snapshot.

Synthetic browser audio, never a field recording or live observation.

Jamcorder: Shared station.

Text equivalent for the seasonal place clock
MonthVisitabilityCrowd pressure
January4112
February4312
March4816
April5328
May5746
June5772
July6090
August6086
September5970
October5738
November5018
December4312

The cue is a browser-generated composition, not a field recording. How NPS Sounds modeled audio works.

Methodology

This page uses the checked-in NPS identity snapshot for Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, the 4 source cards below, and the figures listed above. Data snapshot: October 27, 2026. Read the NPS Sounds methodology and about NPS Sounds for how pages are assembled.

  • Data snapshot: October 27, 2026
  • Source cards: 4

Data Behind This Reading

Source provenance

NPS identity

high

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site is identified as National Historic Site with NPS code beol.

Available · Data snapshot: October 27, 2026

Source

Official operations

limited

Official alerts should be verified on the NPS page. This site uses a checked-in snapshot, not a live operations feed.

From the data snapshot · Data snapshot: October 27, 2026

Source

Weather and seasonality

limited

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site is listed as a National Historic Site in the NPS snapshot. Official NPS page: https://www.nps.gov/beol/index.htm. Data snapshot: October 27, 2026.

Modeled · Data snapshot: October 27, 2026

Source

How this page is assembled

limited

place page source cards come from the data snapshot October 27, 2026.

Data snapshot: October 27, 2026

Source

Where Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site fits

State, region, and designation hubs that list this place.

More Rocky Mountain visit guides

Other source-reviewed places in the same region.