The Great Divide

Most of the eastern slope of the Rockies is uninhabitable due to large hot zones covering the northern and central portions of the range, so the only safe routes into the mountains are through Wyoming (or a large yellow zone in southern Montana) or southern Colorado. Most of the camps in this area control a clear road or pass and survive at least partially by collecting tolls and acting as guides for convoys trying to navigate the backroads that offer the only safe route through the mountains.
  The valleys and high plateaus of the upper mountains below the treeline are home to ranch co-ops raising sheep or cattle alongside some small-scale farming, giving rise to stockyard camps along the main routes.
  The "Weird West Slope" is a mix of traditional Mormon camps, ski resort towns often on the brink of a civil war between tourists and townies, and the occasional commune. Perhaps most notably, the western slope is home to the semi-mythical Woody Creek Camp, where Hunter S. Thompson was hosting a post-election "End of America" party when the bombs dropped. The camp is now said to be home to numerous celebrities and counterculture figures, and many people believe that Owl Farm is the source of Radiation Radio.

While most Boomlands residents don't have much use for gold, silver, and gems, there are still a few operational mining camps around old coal, copper, and lead mines in region.

The Great Divide has many stories of "Morlocks" who rode out the fallout in an underground bunker, mine, or cave system and decided to stay there. Some Morlocks are believed to venture to the surface at night to hunt, gather food, and raid aboveground camps. Every camp has at least one citizen who claims to have encountered pale, malnourished, and occasionally feral strangers who shied away from bright lights or attacked a food cache like wild animals.

Typically cold, snowy winters and warm, dry summers, but altitude and fallout creates considerable variation in weather conditions.

Various species of evergreens. Game animals include elk, moose, and various species of deer, sheep, and goats. Wolves, coyotes, bears, and mountain lions are the most common predators.

Timber, game, livestock, leather, clean water from snowcaps and upland streams, coal, copper, lead.

Most camps in the Great Divide spent the first several years after the Boom in near-complete isolation, which some people claim is the source for the eccentricities of the people there. Even communication with nearby camps was rare until trade started to open up, giving camps a reason to clear a path through the mountains (and a new source of revenue through tolls). A lot of the people here would still prefer to avoid strangers, which is why most trade takes place through intermediaries at diners and market towns along the main routes. Convoys traveling through the divide are cautioned to stick to their routes, because most of the camps on the backroads are not very welcoming to strangers.