We (DH, 18 y.o., 20 y.o., 23 y.o., myself) will be driving to Boulder in a few weeks and then on to Keystone, via RMNP.
In addition to Pearl St. mall, scenic drives & Celestial Seasonings, are there any other must see/must do activities in Boulder? Has anyone taken the Boulder Brewery tour? I think I have plenty of restaurant recommendations.
In RMNP (just driving through w/ some short stops), do you recommend Trail Ridge Rd or Fall River Rd (for scenery, etc.)? Which stops are don't miss?
From RMNP to Keystone, US-40 or CO-9?
Thanks!

In Boulder, NCAR's mesa trails are very nice; check out the view and the building tour(self-guided)first. Celestial is a few miles outside of town, in Gunbarrel; it's fun, and the gift shop is great, but know that it's not right in Boulder. Go to Pioneer (Settler's?)Park and clamber over the sandstone spires (younger people love this), rent inner tubes and tube the creek from near there, or check out Eldorado Canyon, very close, and scenic (also a nice place to climb on big round sandstone boulders, just before the "town" of Eldorado; you could also swim in the natural springs-fed pool there).
I would not bother with Fall River; it is one-way going upward, and you are in the trees (on gravel, no views)the entire way. If you have never done Trail Ridge Road, there is absolutely no comparison for scenery. Stop at all the paved parking turnouts on Trail Ridge; they are all gorgeous views, and there aren't that many of them.
40 north to Keystone goes through Winter Park, and over Berthoud Pass, very pretty; that way you could check out Georgetown (on I70) on the way to keystone, or, a beautiful back way in would be to take Loveland Pass(route 6)instead of Eisenhower tunnel.

Find an Alpine Slide somewhere along the way. I believe there is one in Winterpark and a few other locations.

Thanks for some great suggestions, sylvia and spiro. We're thinking about going into Georgetown for the train one day (from Keystone). We've been to Keystone quite a bit, but never stopped at Georgetown. Is CO-9 (Kremmling-Silverthorne) scenic at all?

If you go through the Park on TrailRidge Road you can come down to Keystone of CO 9. It isn't terribly "scenic"--if you do any trout fishing there ia trophy trout stream that runs alongside. You could do Georgetown going back to Denver rather than backtracking. There is also Leadville. Celestial Seasonings was a fun tour. Are you staying in Keystone?

40 over Berthoud Pass is far more scenic, IMO

From RMNP to Keystone, I'd go Trail Ridge Road to Grand Lake, and take CO 9 to Keystone.

It's much more direct than going over Berthoud Pass, to I-70 to the tunnel or Loveland Pass. Driving both those passes would be slow traveling in one day, for one thing.

CO 9 is pleasant because it's the 'back way' through very simple ranching type country. It's a much more laid-back and easy route to take.

You'll be seeing so much great scenery, I think I'd choose the simple and direct route over the winding and 'scenic' route.

Sorry Gretchen & Sylvia, but on this one I have to agree with PeaceOut. If the OP is going from the east side of RMNP over Trail Ridge Road, then all the way to Keystone, taking Hwy 40 from Granby back to I-70 would put them over/under the continental divide 3 times in one day. Why would anybody want to do that?

Cindy,

I drive the route between Granby, Kremmling and Silverthorne all the time and enjoy it a lot. PeaceOut is right, from Granby to Kremmling you follow the Colorado River mostly through the peaceful ranchland of Middle Park. From Kremmling to Silverthorne I divide the drive into thirds. The first third is sagebrush ranchland with the peaks of the Gore range in the background. The second third hugs the shoreline of Green Mountain Reservoir. The third leg follows the Blue River from Green Mountain Reservoir to Silverthorne. It is scenic in it's own right.....and quicker than the other route.

If you want more scenery along this route and you have an hour and a half for a hike around a small lake to a waterfall, google "Lower Cataract Lake Loop Trail." I did this hike this last weekend, and the wildflowers were magnificient.

I thought that if the trip was new to the OP, the route suggested is incredibly scenic. I think 9 is a bit boring, compared to 40. And the OP does seem to be looking for wow rather than just get there the most conveniently.

Thanks for all of the route info everyone. I think I'll map both routes and see how we're doing on time. We hope to go over to Georgetown one day, so CO-9 may make more sense. The lake loop sounds interesting, furled.
Gretchen, yes, we're staying at Keystone at The Pines. We may take a day trip or 2 from there.
Has anyone been to the Boulder Beer brewery?

Furled, I think that was what I said--CO9. We stay in a house on that road, and it is lovely.
We have also done this trip through the park and down to I70 at Silverthorne/Keystone.
Then do Georgetown or Idaho Springs on the way back to Denver.

Gretchen,

Sorry about that. MY bad!!! Someday I've just got to learn to read!

Cindy,

I'd suggest entering RMNP via U.S. Hwy 34 with a short stop at the Fall River Visitor Center to get a map and get yourself oriented. Continue along 34 to the ENDOvalley road (that leads to Old Fall River Road). Follow the Endovalley road to the Alluvial Fan of the Roaring River. Park in one of the little lots on either side of the fan and take the very short walk into the fan and read the story of the fans creation 26 years ago next week.

Get back to Hwy 34 (Trail Ridge Road) and follow it up & over to the other side of the park with stops at Many Parks Curve overlook, Rainbow Curve overlook (look for the alluvial fan below), Forest Canyon overlook, and the Alpine Visitor Center.

Continue down. After passing Medicine Bow Curve, the Poudre River valley will be to your right all the way to Milner Pass. Stop at Milner Pass just long enough to say you were at the continental divide, then continue down to a stop at Farview Curve overlook for some awesome views of the Kawuneeche Valley.

As you then drive down further into the Kawuneeche Valley you'll notice the vast stands of dead pine trees that have succumbed to a pine beetle infestation. Strong, healthy pines can usually fend of this natural pest, but the drought years of 1997 - 2005 weakened their defenses so drastically that the beetles were able to go on a rampage through much of this area all the way to Gore Pass (west of Kremmling) and down into Summit County (near Silverthorne and Frisco). You'll even notice it at Keystone.

If you have the time, and would like a wonderful look into the past before leaving the park, stop at the Never Summer Ranch parking area and take the short hike across the meadow and the Colorado River to the collection of buildings behind the trees that is the remnants of an early 1900's guest ranch. Volunteers dressed in period clothing help you tour the buildings and explain what life was like in the valley before it became part of the national park. There is even a park program for kids that lets them dress in period clothing and experience the "chores" that needed to be done to maintain the ranch on a daily basis.

Moose and elk inhabit the Kawuneeche Valley. If you come across a collection of cars pulled over to the side of the road, it's generally because others have spotted a herd of elk or a moose nearby. If you come across any of these animals remember to maintain a healthy distance, especially with moose - they're a lot quicker than they look and quite dangerous if you scare them or piss them off.

A number of years ago I was fishing the Colorado River near the Timber Creek Campground here when I came around a blind turn in the river and found myself 15 yards away from a herd of about 20 elk. All 20 of them stopped grazing and stared at me with a look that suggested I probably wasn't going any further. I stopped dead in my tracks, said hello, introduced myself, told them I was just fishing but that I'd be heading back now. I backed away upstream and around the bend again. They went back to grazing.

Hey, Furled. What is the river like there? Wide, close, steep banks, etc. Thanks.

Gretchen,

It's more of a stream than a river. Anywhere from 8 to 15 feet wide with 2 -3 foot banks in places. The banks are generally grassy with spots where there are a run of willows and a rare cottonwood. The river depth varies from 6 inches (over shallow gravel riffles) to 4 or 5 feet (in some deep pocket runs along the outside banks of a curve.

There's usually some kind of footpath right along the bank from any of the parking areas up and down the valley. A healthy population of 8 inch brookies with the occasional 12 -14 inch rainbow or brown to make fishing interesting. I like to access it from Timber Creek Campground because not alot of people do it from there.

Good info. The campground on the Blue river just out of Silverthorne also looks very inviting. We fished the tailwaters of the Dillon Dam, right behind the outlets. That was hilarious--big ole trout caught on the tiniest fly I've ever fished, in the shadow of the Le Creuset outlet!!

Gretchen, one of our most exciting wildlife sightings was very near that campground, on the Blue River, outside Silverthorne.

We saw an eagle swoop down and pluck a fish out of the river water. It was pretty amazing. Definitely an eagle. Either a brown or a young bald eagle.

My brother was only 10 at the time, and he clearly remembers it still.

Gretchen,

That tailwater fishing in Silverthorne is pretty amazing isn't it?

Unfortunately the Blue River Campground about 6 miles north of Silverthorne is closed indefinately. Every time I passed by it this year I noticed it was still closed, so I finally stopped at the ranger station in Silverthorne and asked about it. Apparently the closure is due to the dead pine trees in the campground. There are so many of them that the forest service is worried that in a windstorm a tree or two or three will topple onto an unsuspecting camper. So..... until they eventually clear the trees out, the campground is closed.

The same is apparently also the case with Peak One campground (where trees DID topple over last year), as well as the Gore Pass Campground and Blacktail Creek Campground (both in the Routt National Forest) west of Kremmling.

I love it when I post and it's completely ignored.

Hey PeaceOut,

Same thing happened to me a couple years ago. Only it was an Osprey that swooped down right in front of me and snagged a trout out of the Colorado River below the Shadow Mountain Dam. Just as easy as can be. I yelled that I wanted to see its license, but the darn thing ignored me and just flew away.

Did ya catch my post about the Blue River campground. Too bad, eh? That's a great little campground.

Thanks for all of the additional info and details!
I don't fish, but the rest of the crew does. I'm thinking that stream by the outlet stores would be perfect--I'll fish for bargains, while they fish for fish! Ha! Actually, it always amazes me how many people fish over there. Now, I'd really be thrilled to see an eagle "fishing"--awesome.