jmessi

Hello ! My husband and I are planning a road trip to Colorado in July from Shreveport, LA. We are in our late 30s (ahem, almost 40..) and we love the outdoors, gorgeous views, and good food and good beer. We are thinking about relocating to Colorado, and already know we love Fort Collins, but being from the south, we want a feel of the southern part of the state. However, this road trip is not really about scouting a place to live...we know we would need more time for that.

Our whirlwind possible itinerary right now:
Day 1: drive from Shreveport to Trinidad...crash
Day 2: Trinidad to Durango to Ouray - stay the night in Ouray
Day 3: Take the train ride Ouray to Silverton- have heard this is super cool and worth it. Truth?
Day 4: Leave Ouray for Black Canyon. Hike around for about 1/2 day here. Head out and drive to Leadville for the night. (Cool town? or cheesy touristy? any other recs?
Day 5: Leadville to Boulder. Stay the night in Boulder as we have some friends there.
( We have spent time here in the past, so not wanting to linger overlong)
Day 6: Boulder to RMNP by way of the Peak to Peak drive. Spend all day in the park, and end up in Fort Collins that night.
Day 7. Fort Collins- head out to see Horsetooth Reservoir as last summer it was burning and we did not get to see it. Hang out and have good beer.
Day 8. Leave Fort Collins for Colorado Springs, do Pikes Peak and see the Garden of the Gods. Night in CS.
Day 9. Heading home

I know it is not much time in any one place, but we are really looking for good drives where we will see a lot of the state. Any suggestions on places to stay, places to avoid, or alternate routes would be welcome.
Thank you!

Dayle

j,

I have visited the Durango and Ouray areas and they are so spectacular, I feel like you might want more time there. I'd much rather be there than in Ft. Collins!

Anyway, the railroad ride you are thinking of goes from Durango to Silverton. When I visited, we drove my Jeep on a 4x4 road up the same canyon the train takes. It was a great drive. The train is slow and you do have to take it round trip. Not the mos practical for a short rushed trip. If you drive you can see the same scenery, stop in Silverton and continue on to Ouray on the Million Dollar Highway.

Better make
lLodging reservations in advance. I know this part of CO is very, very popular during peak season!

Have fun

Ackislander

Great trip, though lots packed in, maybe too much. What would you let go if you had to?

What do you do if your intended route and schedule is interrupted by early snow?

Have you spent much time at altitude? Leadville is over 10,000 ft, and Silverton is close. Even seriously fit people can get mountain sickness if they have the wrong genes. Stay hydrated!!!

Food and gas may not be around the next corner. Stay fueled. Have fun!

jmessi

We are worried we have packed in too much. We have discussed doing just doing the Million Dollar Hwy stuff and saving RMNP for another trip. We have been to both Boulder and Fort Collins in the past, we could give up Fort Collins, but...the beer. I suppose there is good beer everywhere but we really enjoyed the beer in FC.

Altitude-
Last summer on our trip to Boulder we hiked the Flatirons the day after we flew in, and I was a bit out of breath- not sure if it was the altitude or the hike- probably both. I did have a little headache but some niacin helped. I was hoping driving in would help to acclimate to the altitude...

Nelson

I live in Fort Collins, a great town, and am partial to a lot of our beers. I also love RMNP and have spent a lot of time in the Park over the years.

That said, I do think you have packed too much in and by eliminating the swing up north you can have a more relaxed trip in the central and southern part of the state. You will no doubt find good Fort Collins beers there.

Your experience on the Flatirons hike was most likely altitude. Shortness of breath and headache are the classic early warning symptoms. Driving will help slightly, but you still will gain elevation rapidly, so it may not be that much of a benefit. The much bigger factor is to stay well hydrated with (and I do hate to say this) ... water!

Have a great trip.

martym

Agree with the posters above--save RMNP for the next time. Just a few comments.

The train is Durango to Silverton not Ouray to Silverton and you can take a bus one way instead of riding the train round trip http://www.durangotrain.com/bustrain...nation-options.

You might consider going to Telluride when you’re in Ouray—it’s a beautiful drive and the town is one of the most beautifully situated I’ve ever seen.

As to beer--take at look at

brewpubs in Durango
http://www.brewpubkitchen.com/home
http://steamworksbrewing.com/
http://www.skabrewing.com/main.html
http://www.mountainmadnesspub.com/
brewpubs in Ouray
http://ouraybrewery.com/home/
brewpubs in Telluride
http://www.smugglersbrewpub.com/

wave725

I think Ouray is one of the most spectacular places in Colorado and agree you may want to spend more than one day there. As far as Leadville, we've stayed there 3 different times to hike 14ers...and no matter how many times we tried to acclimate ourselves prior to arriving the 10,000 foot altitude impacted our sleep more than anything.

jmessi

Thanks for all of the replies. I do not plan on trying to hike a 14er, but I do want to avoid horrible altitude sickness. Right now our 2 options are to drop out RMNP and FC, and instead just drive from Trinidad- Pagosa springs- Durango- Ouray- Black Canyon- Leadville- Boulder, with plans to stay in Durango one night and Leadville one night. However, now I wonder if Leadville should just be a stop on the way to Boulder and not a place to stay due to the altitude....
We have discussed leaving Black Canyon out. If you had to leave something out of the above, what would go? Would you drive a different way?

jmessi

Also, in reply to:
What do you do if your intended route and schedule is interrupted by early snow?
I can honestly say I did not consider this AT ALL. Snow in July did not occur to this southern girl...How likely is that? Also, we are thinking about renting a car for the trip, is a 4x4 really needed?

Everyone seems to love Ouray- what is a must do while there? I confess on the map it looks like a quick stop, but that is why I am here, to get some expert opinions.

Nelson

Snow in July is possible, but "unlikely". In my 30+ years in the state I can remember three July high country snowfalls that caused a change of plans. Two of those were July 4 weekend. I wouldn't worry about it, but it does happen on occasion.

Nelson

But a huge July thunderstorm that dumps lots of rain and/or hail is always a possibility. Pea-sized hail piled up 5 inches or more is a semi-regular occurrence (happened a few weeks ago in Fort Collins). This could disrupt travel, typically for a few hours.

DebitNM

Unless you are going to do 4WD off roads, snow won't be an issue. There hasn't even been that much snow this winter on those roads.

In Ouray - Box Canyon Falls and the hot springs. This TR is dated, but should still be valid -
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...rip-report.cfm

DebitNM

I am sorry, I forgot how little was on the TR. For some reason, I thought I had written more and I didn't re-read it till I posted the link.

Buen Tiempo Restaurant & Cantina is a good spot to eat lunch.

BlackandGold

We did an 8 night trip to Co in 2010. Flew in and out of Denver. We spent 2 nights in Colorado Springs (Pikes Peak, hot air baloon festival), 3 nights in Durango (stopped at Sand Dunes on the way,horseback ride, hot springs, train ride(bus back)), one night in Mesa Verde, one night in Montrose (stopped in Telluride for the Gondola ride, Black Canyon), 2 nights in Leadville (with a stop at St. Elmo on the way). It was a lot of driving. By the time we got to Leadville we were exhausted. We did do some hiking, and it was more difficult than at lower altitudes but we didn't attempt anything really challenging. We did not spend any time in the town, but would love to go back to see some of the historical sights. Seemed like an authentic western town, a little shabby but not scary -definately not touristy.

It was a lot of driving, but the drives were incredible. I'm glad we saw what we did, but you might want to stay a couple nights in one place. Skip visiting friends unless you really want to see them. I would focus on SW Co and spend a couple of nights in Durango and a couple in Ouray (Telluride was really beautiful also and I wish we had been able to spend a night there). You may also want to think about Mesa Verde if you've never been. One of the most interesting National parks I've ever been to. Although the drives are beautiful, we prefer to spend more time out of the car than in.

Colorado is such a big state and so beautiful. We are planning a trip back next year and we will focus on RMNP and back to Leadville and/or Aspen.

jmessi

Black and Gold-
Thanks for your help. I am trying my best to narrow it down and see what I can cut out. I just don't want to cut any of it! We do want to see our friends so Boulder cannot be cut out. If we do the trip as planned above, it would be more of a way to survey the SW to try to get a feel for where/when we want to return. Then again, we could drop out the Fort Collins and RMNP leg. We are really waffling- it seems like everyone on this site loves the SW. We know we love Fort Collins, so we are loathe to drop it... but we might. Then again, Christmas is a good time to come back to Fort Collins, to see if we could handle the winters (as we are thinking of moving) .....

Choices!

jmessi

also, Mesa Verde was on the original trip but we cut it, thinking it would be part of a different trip that includes a lot of Utah....

Gretchen

You've been to Fort Collins. There are breweries all over Colorado. Just a thought.

jmessi

After much debate, updated plan with booked places to stay:
Day 1: drive from Shreveport to Durango- 15 hrs! whew!

Day 2: Durango-Ouray- checking out the area in Durango, have a cheap camping cabin in Ouray by the river.

Day 3: More time to explore Ouray area, in the afternoon heading towards Gunnison- night in a hostel in Gunnison.

Day 4: Explore around Gunnison/CB area. Not sure where to head from here- Leadville? Basically need to head towards Boulder with a stop along the way...Where to stay this night?
Day 5: ? to Boulder-not sure of the morning, but plan to be in Boulder by about 5 to meet up with friends
Day 6: Boulder- staying in town to take a break from being in the car-
Day 7. RMNP by way of the Peak to Peak drive. Spend all day in the park. Not sure where we are going to stay this night-

Day 8. head to Colorado Springs, do Pikes Peak and see the Garden of the Gods. Night in CS.
Day 9. Heading home

jmessi

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