Hot springs near Vail, CO

Vail sits in the Gore Creek valley on the White River National Forest's Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger District, with the Gore Range to the north and the Sawatch Range to the south. Interstate 70 is the spine of the area: east over Vail Pass to Summit County and Denver, and west down the Eagle River to Dotsero, where it joins the Colorado River and runs through Glenwood Canyon toward the thermal area at the canyon's western end. U.S. 24 leaves the interstate west of Vail and climbs over Tennessee Pass to Leadville and the upper Arkansas River valley, the northern part of the Rio Grande Rift, where the San Isabel National Forest covers the Sawatch Range.

The Colorado Department of Transportation keeps its passenger vehicle traction law in effect on Interstate 70 between Dotsero and Morrison, the stretch that includes Vail Pass, from September 1 through May 31. It can apply the same law to U.S. 24 over Tennessee Pass and to other state highways during storms, and the chain law is the final step before a closure. Colorado 82 over Independence Pass, the summer route from the Arkansas valley to Aspen, closes each fall and usually reopens the week before Memorial Day weekend.