High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Hayden is a Statutory Town in Routt County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,634 at the 2000 census. The town sits along U.S. Highway 40 in the Yampa River Valley between Craig and Steamboat Springs. Historically a center of coal mining and agriculture, it consists today of a small cluster of homes and businesses. The town is named for Ferdinand Hayden, a surveyor who explored western Colorado during the late 19th century.