In Stephen King’s novel The Shining, the fictional Colorado town nearest the Overlook Hotel is Sidewinder.
The Overlook is portrayed as an isolated mountain resort in Colorado, reached by a dangerous winter road. Its distance from ordinary civilization helps heighten the novel’s sense of confinement after the Torrance family becomes snowbound there.
Sidewinder is a fictional location created for King’s story, not a real Colorado town. Readers sometimes confuse it with Castle Rock or Haven, other fictional Maine communities that recur across King’s works. The Shining instead uses Colorado for its setting, reflecting Jack Torrance’s new job as the hotel’s winter caretaker.
The novel was published in 1977 and centers on Jack, Wendy, and Danny Torrance during their stay at the Overlook. The hotel’s remote setting is crucial to the plot because the family is cut off from help while the supernatural forces inside grow stronger.