Dean Weiler loves to walk, to delve into history, and to connect people with what makes Aspen special. All that led the Buffalo, New York, native to launch Dean’s Aspen Tours after moving here full-time in 2007 (he’d worked winters in Aspen since 1999).

“I always found the ghost story element interesting,” Weiler recalls. “That was the start of it. Then I started researching Aspen’s history, and as I developed that knowledge, I realized it could be fun to turn into a business.”

Now he leads small-group tours that cover different aspects of the town’s past (including ghosts). Weiler enjoys sharing stories about Aspen that can make the tony enclave more approachable—the employee housing program, the tradition of community policing, or just chatting with Aspenites on the street during a tour—with guests who may see the town only as expensive and inaccessible. Even locals learn something new.

“The neat thing is when I walk around with people who have been in Aspen for years and they look at the town through a different lens,” says Weiler.

Among his favorite places to walk when he’s not leading tours? The Marolt Trail, which starts near the roundabout, then goes through the Marolt Open Space, past the Holden-Marolt Mining and Ranching Museum, and across the pedestrian bridge high above Castle Creek, before ending at West Hopkins Avenue downtown.

And Weiler is always on the lookout for new tour inspirations. “Maybe it’s some place I’ve walked around for a long time and now I see it in a new light,” he says. “There’s so much more stuff to learn about.”