kushner79

My friend and I are traveling to Colorado in mid June this year. We are flying in and out of Denver and have six days to travel. We would love help planning a road trip. We love amazing scenery, off the beaten path nature combined with fun towns with good restaurants and antique shops. Our priorities are beautiful scenery and a moderate hike or two (other things that would be fun but aren't required are a rafting or kayak trip but (but no whitewater) or horseback riding and/or night out camping). We'd love to see Mesa Verde National Park so we thought we'd do the San Juan Byway but we're not sure how many days to spend on it. Also, we'd love to combine this with a trip to New Mexico. Is this feasible? We'd love to hear your suggestions.

DebitNM

First - if you are going to add in New Mexico, fly into one city and out of the other.

That said, with 6 days, it will be really hard to get in more than SW CO.

THAT said, have you already bought airline tickets? IF not, fly into ABQ as SW Colorado is a much shorter drive than from Denver.

Durango would be a great town to visit, lots to do with drop dead scenery.

You can travel the entire Million Dollar Highway in a very long day, so slow down and enjoy it. Hit the hot springs in Ouray, do a jeep tour too.

emalloy

Mesa Verde is certainly worth at least two days and If you can, get lodging in the park at Far View Lodge. If they say they are full, call back and keep calling as people make reservations way in advance and then cancel as time gets close.

Six days isn't much to do all you want to do, but if you get into Denver early enough, you could go up to Estes Park spend the night. Then go through Rocky Mt. NP on Trail Ridge Road (assuming it is open in June) with a short hike or two and head to Mesa Verde.


As to the rest of your trip, if you really want to go to New Mexico, which is wonderful, you will be doing a lot of seat time in a car, but you could drop down to Santa Fe and then back up to Denver.

Connie

If you have to fly into Denver:
Denver to Estes Park
Drive across Trail Ridge Road in RMNP if it is open--come out at Grand Lake and down to interstate.
Interstate to Glenwood Springs or Grand Junction--you'll go by Vail--might be a nice stop.
South down to Ridgeway (where the original True Grit was filmed), Ouray, Silverton, Durango and Estes Park.

Ouray is famous for their Jeep trails. You can either rent a Jeep or take a tour with a driver. I highly recommend the driver unless you are very familiar with 4 wheel driving. They will take you back into and on to of the mountains--scary, thrilling and beautiful.

The Durango Silverton train is another beautiful thrill. I recommend taking it one way and the bus back. It's a really long day doing it all on the train.

If you can't fly out of Albuquerque, try Colorado Springs. Both are closer than going back to Denver.

spirobulldog

Great Sand Dunes might be another good stop. Usually Medano Creek is going good the first couple of weeks in June. I don't know how the snowpack is this year.

If you like adventure we really enjoyed the Durango Train/Zipline. It is expensive, but is easily the best zipline outfit in the world, IMOP.

DO MESA VERDE. excellent choice.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison might be a good stop too.

If you haven't made your airline reservations, then I would check to see if the rates aren't much more for flying into Durango or even tiny Cortez. Usually DEN airport is terribly expensive for car rentals for some reason. So the two might offset each other.

RMNP is certainly a good option too.

Save NM or UT for another trip.

Those are all just ideas depending on which direction you want to drive. You might could do a loop with those.

kathieAHPlanner

If you do fly into Denver, you should not miss Rocky Mountain National Park and Trail Ridge Road - which should be open all the way through (cross your fingers). You can go up on the Estes Park side and come down on the Winter Park side and hit I-70 and head on out west. I would suggest highway 9 thru Breckenridge. There are some good jeeping roads outside of Breckenridge. Then head down to Twin Lakes and head west and north on 82 through Independence Pass and into Aspen. Take some time to see Maroon Bells near Aspen. Go on up thru Carbondale and down thru Delta, Montrose, and Telluride.The Ouray/Telluride area also has some good jeeping. By that, we mean pay to rent a jeep and drive off road on roads not meant for city cars.

If you're flying in from low altitude you really should take a day in Denver to get used to the altitude before heading up to the mountains. And you should drink plenty of water. (Carry a water bottle and use it regularly.)

1 - Denver
2 - RMNP & Trailridge to Breckenridge
3 - to Aspen
4 - Maroon Bells and to Telluride/Durango
5 - Durango & Mesa Verde
6 - Drive like heck back to Denver

So you'll probably need pick some of these and not do all if you want to get out of the car and do some hiking or rafting. June is early for rafting - most of the rivers will be pretty high with the snow melt, but you could try in the Gunnison area if you really want to raft.

Another option would be to reverse this, then you wouldn't have to spend a day in Denver. Head straight down to Durango the fastest way possibly, enjoy Mesa Verde, then see the rest of the sights on the way back. Of course this doesn't leave any time for NM.

DebitNM

Do yourself a favor - if you are not familiar with off-roading on the kind of terrain that exists in Ouray area, do not rent a jeep and do it yourself. You can find yourself in some very scary situations. Take a tour, let someone who knows what they are doing drive and that way you and friend can both see the amazing sights.

spirobulldog

You could reverse Katie's plan because your highest elevation would be at RMNP. Might be better to end with it rather than start with it.

kathieAHPlanner

Hey Spiro - I did mention reversing the trip, and it's Kathie - I know, I'm unusual. And I forgot - we have a lack of snow this year, so rafting - "but no whitewater" - should be easier to find in June.