Colorado Springs has a population of over 400K (a bit smaller than Portland, OR).
By car it’s a little over an hour away from Denver (a much shorter distance than Middlebury College to Montreal, Williams College to Boston, or some of the New York LACs to NYC). I’d say the “middle of nowhere” label sticks better to many other LACs. Arguably, Colorado College has one of the best LAC locations in America (depending on what you want, of course). For a student of environmental science, its setting and the block plan are an excellent combination, because together they facilitate field study of a wide range of ecosystems (https://www.coloradocollege.edu/other/senseofplace/ecology/ecological-life-zones.html).