Exploring Colorado

[BingoBangoBongo]

Removing the need to stay in a timeshare, what two or three areas would you explore with a 7 day trip flying into and out of Denver in late June/early July.

Interested in exploring the outdoors with light hiking, golfing and exploring a new area on a delayed honeymoon for a young 30ish couple.

Thx!

 

[saabman]

Aspen, Vail, Steamboat Springs would all have what you want. Decide and book early and get your car rental ASAP. I fear it will be a very crowded summer in CO.

 

[BingoBangoBongo]

Aspen, Vail, Steamboat Springs would all have what you want. Decide and book early and get your car rental ASAP. I fear it will be a very crowded summer in CO.

Thanks. This is a result of zero rental cars being available in MT, which was Plan A.

 

[Mongoose]

Estes National Park, Pike's Peak, Mount Evans. I live in Grand Junction and if you make this far West, the Colorado National Monument is fabulous and has great hiking. That would also put you within 90 miles of Moab!

 

[BingoBangoBongo]

Estes National Park, Pike's Peak, Mount Evans. I live in Grand Junction and if you make this far West, the Colorado National Monument is fabulous and has great parking. That would also put you within 90 miles of Moab!

Thanks for the suggestions. This is for my son and his bride. They were supposed to get married last September, but moved it up to July last year ...yada yada yada, they are living in FL now and he’s been in MT (summer 2019), AZ (winter 2018) and UT (winter 2017), so they are looking to get a taste of CO instead of the MT trip they we’re hoping for. Unfortunately they have lodging planned outside Glacier NP but no rental cars available. Denver appears to have cars available and they are flexible on where they go and stay. I’d guess Moab is out of their driving range.

 

[CO skier]

Skip the crowds in DIA. Fly into Albuquerque and drive to Durango, CO. Take the train/zip line tour: Soaring Tree Tops Adventure. It is fun just watching the videos.

Homepage - Soaring Colorado

Experience the largest zip line in the USA! Soar in Durango, CO. All-day family adventure, gourmet lunch & private train ride.

soaringcolorado.com

Pricey, but worth it for a once in a lifetime adventure. (My family have done it twice in a lifetime, so far.)

Mesa Verde for another day. Hiking and ancient culture. Book your hike into one of the ruins early. Bring a picnic lunch.

Four Corners and Monument Valley loop drive for another day.

Hillcrest Golf Club just north of Durango, or 27 holes of golf at Pagosa Lakes an hour east of Durango with a scenic drive (ahaha -- golf, drive) to get there. Soak in the Pagosa hot springs after your round of golf.

There is an Indian Casino between Durango and Pagosa Springs, if you want to take a chance.

Take the drive to Silverton and back on another day. Scenic and an old time mining town atmosphere, plus shopping! As a bonus, drive over Red Mountain Pass (the Million Dollar Highway) to Ouray and soak in the hot springs.

Ouray Hot Springs Pool — Visit Ouray Colorado - Homepage

Splash and play in Ouray’s sulfer-free hot springs pool. After an exhilarating adventure on foot, or climbing up a wall of ice, or a pleasant day of shopping Ouray’s unique businesses, soaking in the hot springs and viewing the snow-covered canyon walls from the water in winter is truly a restorativ

ourayhotsprings.com

 

[Krteczech]

Rocky Mountain National Park timed entry for June is going on sale tomorrow, May 1st. July entry will sell starting June 1st.
there are two types this year. One for Bear Lake Corridor 6AM-6PM.
second for the rest of RMNP, including transit via Trail Ridge Road 9AM-4PM. If you want just to drive Trail Ridge Road in June/July,
after 4 PM entry time will give you plenty time to explore. In addition you need day pass to get in.

 

[vikingsholm]

I recommend getting this book described in the link below to give you some further ideas. It covers the entire state (focusing more on the scenic areas west of the Front Range), by a longtime Colorado resident and renowned professional outdoor photographer John Fielder. It not only includes his scenic (glossy paper) photos of various sizes throughout the book , but has activity, dining, history, and highlight summary guides and his personal opinions of the areas that he's spent years exploring. It's a nice book to just pull out and look at periodically as well.

John Fielder's Best of Colorado, 6th Edition: John Fielder: 9780998508092: Amazon.com: Books

John Fielder's Best of Colorado, 6th Edition [John Fielder] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. John Fielder's Best of Colorado, 6th Edition

www.amazon.com

Personally, if I had to limit it to a week, I'd hit Breckenridge, Vail, Aspen, and Telluride with the Million Dollar highway loop. That's still a lot of driving for just a week though, so if you want to go more relaxed, you could just do Breck, Vail and Aspen, or focus on Telluride/SW Colorado into northern Arizona, which combines some of the most spectacular mountains in the country with the great canyonlands/native ruins of the Mesa Verde and four corners area.

Alternatively, a Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins focus with Rocky Mountain NP and perhaps Steamboat Springs would make a good tour.

 

[bbodb1]

It's hard to go wrong anywhere in Western Colorado.......as long as it is in the mountains!

 

[Dollie]

A few years back, we did a Texas, New Mexico, Colorado trip . The Colorado part centered around Telluride. We had been there several times both in the summer and winter for skiing. We enjoy this area. I've attached an edited version of our itinerary which covers this part of the trip. At our age now we've cut back on some of the more strenuous activities but still found more than enough to keep us busy. It's a great area.

Some notes:

Masa Verde NP - although we didn't do on this trip, we have stayed overnight on the top of the masa in one of the lodges. Great views as the sun sets and rises.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP - this was the first time we actually got into the canyon. Every other time there were forest fires that stopped us.

Animas Forks - we have made it to the town before but this time our "Jeep substitute" wasn't going to make it.

Telluride - they have all sorts of festivals all summer long. Reservation can be tough to get, however, with corvid who knows.

Off Roading - there are all sorts of interesting off road trails to drive but you need to investigate them first. If you don't have a good off road vehicle, hire someone to take you on the trails. When we had our Jeep out there (and where younger) we drove them ourselves. This trip I wanted to do Black Bear. I knew it was a difficult trail and chose to use a tour.

 

[BingoBangoBongo]

Thanks for all the replies. This will give them some great areas to focus on.

 

[cybernaut]

Removing the need to stay in a timeshare, what two or three areas would you explore with a 7 day trip flying into and out of Denver in late June/early July.

Interested in exploring the outdoors with light hiking, golfing and exploring a new area on a delayed honeymoon for a young 30ish couple.

Thx!

7 days is not a lot. I would recommend Vail as meeting most of your requirements. They also have a wonderful Fourth of July parade that we always tried to go to when we lived in Denver.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RunCat]

just to pipe in here: for simplicity, I would consider using Vail/Avon/Beaver as a basecamp. From there it is about 1 hour to Breckenridge, 1 hour to Glenwood Springs , and about 2 hours to the Western entrance to RMNP.

 

[RunCat]

another thing: If you/family end up staying somewhere close to Glenwood Springs, you may want to consider making reservations for the Hanging Lake hike. https://visitglenwood.com/hanginglake/

 

[BingoBangoBongo]

another thing: If you/family end up staying somewhere close to Glenwood Springs, you may want to consider making reservations for the Hanging Lake hike. https://visitglenwood.com/hanginglake/

Thanks! Vail does look like an ideal spot to do day trips from.