Chaffee County is located in the heart of the southern Rockies in south central Colorado along the Arkansas River Valley with the Front Range to the east, Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the south, and the Sawatch Mountains to the west.

Chaffee County was named for Colorado's first United States Senator, Jerome B. Chaffee.

Chaffee County contains 1,013 square miles of land and 2 square miles of water. The county seat is Salida.

Kayaks in the Arkansas River near Salida
Kayakers practicing their "craft" on the Arkansas River in Salida
Chaffee County, Colorado
The Arkansas River in northern Chaffee County