In the past centuries, the Colorado River been called by various names including; Tomichi, Nah-Un-Kah-Rea, Akanaquint, Rio del Tizon, Rio San Rafael, River Buenaventura, Rio Zanguananos and the Colorado.

The 16th century Spaniard explorers called the river Rio del Tizon, which translated to mean River of Embers. Then, in 1776, the Explorers Dominguez and Escalante named it Rio San Rafael. As to when exactly the lower Colorado came to be called the Colorado River is unclear as to when the name Colorado stuck once and for all.

Jedediah Smith first reached the lower stretches of the river in 1826, at which time, he called it the Seedskeedee, which was the name given by the trappers to the Green River, a primary tributaries of the Colorado river, but he also noted that the natives in the area called the river the Colorado, which in Spanish means red. By the summer of 1869, when John Wesley Powell navigated and mapped the canyon, Colorado was the accepted name and most all of its previous monikers had been long forgotten.

The upper stretches of the Colorado River, from its headwaters in Grand County, Colorado in the Rocky Mountains down to the junction with the Green River in Utah was known as the Grand River until as late as 1921, during which time, a Colorado state senator petitioned for a formal change of the currently called Grand River to be called the Colorado River for the entire length from Grand county to the Mexican border.

Before 1921, the Colorado River in the state of Colorado was not called the Colorado river but it was called the Grand River. Thus the Grand river came down from the Rocky Mountains, through the state of Colorado and then continued out of the state of Colorado into Utah, all along as the Grand River,

In fact, this is why the city of Grand Junction is called Grand Junction. It was here where the Grand River joined with the Gunnison River. Later, much further downstream of Grand Junction, when the Grand River in Utah met with the Green River (which river flowed into Utah from Wyoming), it was at that conjunction where the combined waters of the Grand and the Green river were thereafter called the Colorado River.

Then, in 1921, the U.S. Representative Edward T. Taylor of Colorado petitioned Congress to rename the Grand River as the Colorado River. Taylor saw the fact that the Colorado River started outside the border of his state as an abomination.

On July 25, the name change was made official in House Joint Resolution 460 of the 66th Congress and the Grand River became the Colorado river from the Gulf of California all the way up to La Poudre Pass Lake at the continental divide.

At the north end of La Poudre Pass Lake, where the Little Yellowstone Trail crosses the La Poudre Pass Creek on a foot bridge, there is a fork in the dirt trail. After crossing the bridge, the Little Yellowstone Trail continues to the right, and straight ahead leads to a valley wherein lies a tiny stream. A small sign nearby indicates that this stream is the Colorado river and this valley is the headwaters of that river.

Moose crossing the headwaters of the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park in order to get away from the large crowd of photo takers accumulating along the roadside.

Beyers Canyon in located just west of Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado. Both the railroad and US 40 traverse the canyon along with the Colorado river.

There are several campsites locations in the BLM land on the north side rim above the canyon.

As the river flows west, it begins to travel alongside IH 70 and continues with the interstate until Utah.

Through the mid-1800s, the Colorado River between Green River and the Gunnison River was known as the Grand River. Above the junction with the Gunnison River, the Colorado River was known variously as the Bunkara River, the North Fork of the Grand River, the Blue River, and the Grand River. However, in 1870 and after, this portion of the Colorado river was consistently called the Grand River.

The Gunnison river also had several names including: Rio de San Javier, Tomichi, Rio del Tizon, Eagle, Eagle Trail, South Fork of the Grand, Grande and Grand River.

The first non-native to see and record information of the Gunnison River was Juan Maria de Rivera, who came to the banks of the river just below its confluence with the Uncompahgre River in 1761-1765. (Later Escalante noted that Rivera thought the Gunnison River was the Rio del Tizon.) It was again seen in 1776 by Silvestre Vélez de Escalante. At that time the Spanish name for the Gunnison River was Rio de San Javier (Xavier), where as the Native American name for the Gunnison River was Tomichi.

Through the mid-1800s, the Colorado river was variously named the Eagle, Eagle Tail, South Fork of the Grand, Grande, and Grand River. Exploration reports and published maps in the 1850s and 1860s most commonly referred to the river as the Grand River. In subsequent years, however, the river was renamed for U.S. Army Captain John W. Gunnison of the Topographic Engineers who was ambushed and killed by Pahvant Utes while mapping a trail west in Utah Territory in 1853.

In July of 1882, the town of Grand Junction was incorporated and at that time, the Colorado River below the Gunnison River was called the Grand River. Furthermore, during this time, the current Gunnison River was called the South Fork of the Grand with the Upper Colorado River being called the North Fork of the Grand.

This left absolutely no doubt as to what to name this new town would be called when it was founded on the banks of the North and South Forks of the Grand River. It would be called Grand Junction which now sits at the confluence of the present day Colorado River and the Gunnison River.