Answer: Not exactly. Aside from eruptions of vitriol over the price of a lift ticket during the winter holidays, Vail Mountain is not volcanic. However, there is one active volcano in Eagle County: Dotsero Crater, a maar volcano near the confluence of the Eagle and Colorado rivers on federal rangeland 42 miles west of Vail Village. 

What’s a maar volcano? It’s a volcanic crater that usually fills with water (like Oregon’s Crater Lake). However, Dotsero’s, which measures 2,100 feet across and is estimated to be 1,200 feet deep, is filled with roughly 950 feet of sediment. Given nearby geothermal activity—namely, Glenwood’s hot springs 18 miles to the west—the presence of a volcano in these parts shouldn’t be surprising. But unlike with the volcanic fissure that in March began spewing hot magma outside of the town of Grindavik, Iceland, residents of Dotsero need not worry. 

The Dotsero Crater last erupted 4,200 years ago, around when the pyramids in Egypt were being built. In geological time, though, that’s yesterday, which is why the United States Geological Survey classifies Dotsero Crater as active (a distinction given to any volcano that has erupted within the past 10,000 years). Given its proximity to Eagle County Regional Airport, Dotsero Crater is still on the Federation Aviation Administration’s radar as a potential hazard for flight; more down to earth, lava from the last eruption, which flowed from the crater down to present-day I-70, can be seen from the highway interchange.

Get there: From the Dotsero exit off Interstate 70, follow the frontage road to County Road 8460, then drive north for 1.5 miles to the Dotsero Crater Recreation Site; high-clearance vehicles only (4-wheel drive recommended).