My husband and I are planning 11 days in Colorado in early June. Beyond RMNP what else should we see ? Also what is the best rafting location . I am unsure If we should do this first as I see the proximity to Estes is at least 90 min. Also should we include Mesa Verde ? What is the best travel book for hiking in colorado ?

Early June can be a cold, rainy time in Colorado. Rivers are usually still high for rafting unless you want to do high level white water rafting.

Trail Ridge Road, the road across RMNP usually opens in late May but some years doesn't open until the first week of June.

Mesa Verde is a pretty good distance but 11 days gives you time to see that area too. The loop of Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Cortez is one of the best areas of Colorado, IMO.

Before you go rafting, check on water levels---and not with the rafting company. We took a "white water" rafting trip outside of Taos, NM last year. Paid big money for white water and we were scraping the bottom a good bit of the time and had to pick up and move our raft several times because the water was so low. It was hardly high enough to raft much less have "white water".

Durango and Buena Vista/Salida are common areas people raft.

There is Rafting along the Colorado River and hiking in Glenwood Springs- Hanging Lake- it's beautiful. Plus- the Hot Springs are there.

I would start out in Mesa Verde. You might also want to include Great Sand Dunes National Park. I think it is best about the 1st week in June, because Medano Creek usually is running the best about that time of year. Then RMNP is great(although, I'm not sure what the flooding last year has done to it).

There are lots of other great hiking spots too. Maybe consider somewhere like Maroon Bells.

One amazing thing near Mesa Verde is the Durango Train/Zipline
www.soaringcolorado.com

hadj's recommendation is excellent. There is also an "adventure park" in Glenwood Springs, with a decent cave, and we enjoyed that.

The rafting is probably "better" near Salida, but the location isn't as good (IMHO).

I'm sure there are great hikes everywhere in Colo, but I'm most familiar with Summit County. A google search will likely get you a list of good hikes for your destination. [Beware the advertisements for rafting in Summit county. It is really a 1-3 hour round trip to Salida or elsewhere, i.e. not near Summit County.)

Need to correct some errorous comments even if well intended.

June can be cool but rarely rainy. Our rainiest months are April and May. And that often means rain on the front range and snow in the mountains.

Trail ridge road is always open by Memorial Day weekend. I cannot recall a time in the past 35 years when that was not the case. There have been a couple times when it was closed briefly the following week or so because of snow. But it will be open.

Water levels for rafting are never a problem in June. In fact June is the peak month for rafting in Co. After that I it can drop off substantially if the snowpack was low that year. Should not be a problem this year. Brown's canyon out of Buena Vista/Salida probably is the best for white water rafting. Several operating companies there but all much the same.

Durango and MVerde is within your range of driving time wise but I would focus on central CO. Would not go any further south than Black Canyon. Save SW CO for another time when you would have the time to really explore it.

Hiking on the higher mountains pass will have have snow or mud problems depending on the snow melt.

Bring your bikes, lots of great cycling at that time.

Good Luck

There are lost of things to see and do here in Colorado I do agree I would focus on the Denver area. There is Red Rocks Ampitheatre, Boulder Falls in Boulder.

Colorado Springs is an amazing place to visit which is close to Denver. You could do the cog railway up to Pikes Peak, visit the Olympic training center, Garden of the Gods (you can hike here).

You can also visit Miramont Castle in historic Manitou Springs.

Seven falls, Cave of the Winds and the Royal Gorge of course the fires from last summer burnt down the visitor center but the bridge was not hurt and is incredible.

Winter Park is an awesome place to go in the summer for mountain biking.

Do you plan on spending the night in Estes Park? Check out the YMCA of the Rockies!

Might want to catch a Colorado Rockies game.

Enjoy your stay!

What kind of hiking were you thinking of? Most hiking in Colorado includes some degree of uphill elevation gain. Some is completely uphill and very strenuous. To recommend some hiking I'd need to know what you are physically able to do, and what you WANT to do. Websites like hikingincolorado.org and thecohiker.com are good websites to search for hikes from easy to difficult. Also, the websites for specific national forests sometimes have downloadable maps & descriptions of hiking trails within their domain.

Seven falls, Cave of the Winds and the Royal Gorge--I've been to all of these multiple times and will likely go again in my lifetime. That said, they are pretty big touristy ripoffs, IMOP.

Just an FYI, Seven Falls is "temporarily" closed due to flooding and the Royal Gorge park is closed until summer 2014 due to a wildfire.

I like to use http://www.summitcountyexplorer.com/...kingtrails.htm for hike suggestions.

I don't like heights at all but I want to try the Durango zipline suggested above. I've heard great things about it.

fmpden,

I was basing my facts on years of traveling in Colorado in June and July, the Rocky Mountain National Park facts of road openings every year and two different Salida area rafting company's websites.

I didn't just make it up.

In 2011, Trail Ridge Road didn't open until June 6

If I had the option of going in early June or late June/early July, I would pick the later date.

Whitewater rafting also depends upon what you're looking to experience. Rafting trips range from trips that are almost just gentle floats, to serious class 5 rapid whitewater. If you've never whitewater rafted before you may want to do a gentler whitewater raft. Early June may be a bit too early for some rafting trips - depending upon snowmelt some rivers may be too high to be rafted safely until later in the month.

wow . Thanks everyone . Still so much to think about . From what I learned the rafting closest to Estes is Fort Collins . Is this still good for rafting . First night we will stay in Boulder and then stick to RMNP but unlike Southern Utah the parks are all over the state and drive times are huge
are there must do hikes/locations between Denver and RMNP ?

one more question -should we split up the lodging to both sides of RMNP : Estes and Grand Lake ?

I like the hike that goes to Sky Pond. This goes past a couple of nice waterfalls and The Loch. I would have a meal at The Stanley, just to say you've seen it. We had breakfast there and it was good. I like to stay on the Estes side. My bro-n-law likes to stay on the Lake side. It depends on what you are wanting to do. From the NPS website, it appears that the Fall River Road will be closed in 2014.

Connie has given you good advice, I too would suggest going later in June. I wouldn't absolutely count on the TRR being open early. Likely it would be, but you have to expect anything early in the season.

When we visit RMNP we usually stay on the east side in Estes Park. There's lots more lodging to choose from, restaurants and I think the best hiking is on the east side. Grand Lake is very small and much more laid back. If you're going for the best hikes in the park, I would stay in Estes Park. I agree with most of these top 10 hikes in the park, with Sky Pond and Bluebird Lake probably being my favorites:

http://www.rockymountainhikingtrails...p-10-hikes.htm

If Trail Ridge Road is open - and it should be, definitely make the drive across and visit Grand Lake.